J hy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path 



THE 



SCEPTIC REFUTED, 

AND 

THE BIBLE VINDICATED. 




REV. J. B. WATERBURY, D.D., 

AUTHOR OF "ADVICE TO A YOUNG CHRISTIAN," " THE TOTAGE 
OF LIFE," ETC. 




Written for the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, and approved by the 
Committee of Publication, 




BOSTON: 
MASSACHUSETTS SABBATJI SCHOOL SOCIETY, 
Depository, No. 13 Cornhtll. 

mo 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 
CHRISTOPHER C. DEAN, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts 



Stereotyped by 
HOB ART & BOBBINS, 

NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDEKY, 
BOSTON. 



PREFACE. 



In this volume are contained the condensed 
arguments and illustrations, on the subjects 
treated, which the author, through many years 
of professional reading, has been treasuring up. 
They are put in this compact form for the ben- 
efit, principally, of the young. 

At the present day, Infidelity is doing much 
to weaken confidence in the full inspiration of 
the Bible. By books and public lectures the 
young mind is continually assailed with a plau- 
sible scepticism ; and the object of this small vol- 
ume is to furnish an antidote to this insinuated 
poison, and to afford a sort of armory from which 
the young may draw forth weapons to meet the 
artful and incessant attacks of the enemies of 
divine truth. May God bless it to this end ! 

J. B. W. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

SCEPTICISM IN RELATION TO THE BEING OF GOD. 

Can there be an Atheist 1 — Indirect attacks against religion 
— Causes of infidelity in the heart — The sceptic intro- 
duced — His statements and the reply — Objections of the 
Atheist to the being of God : namely. Self-existence ; The 
all-sufficiency of Nature ; No proof that the world had a 
beginning — These objections answered — Argument of 
Locke — Argument of Berkley — Dr. Paley's argument, . 9 



CHAPTER II. 

SCEPTICISM IN REGARD TO THE IMMORTALITY OF THE 
SOUL. 

What is the soul 1 — Materialism — The doctrine of immor- 
tality possible and probable — General belief of it among 
all nations — Plato's writings — Testimony of Socrates — 
Bishop Butler's remarks — How far reason proves immor- 
tality — Proof from analogy — Comparison of man and the 
brute animals — Argument from the soul's tendencies and 
capacities — The soul's capacity for improvement — Sus- 
ceptibility to enjoyment and suffering proof of immortal- 
ity, 37 

1^ 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

Further conversation with the Sceptic — Probability of a 
divine revelation — Morality of the Greek and Roman 
sages — Heathen notions of the Deity — Is God merciful 1 
and how known 1 59 



CHAPTER IV. 

EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 

What included in external evidences — Testimony of Philo 
and Josephus to the authenticity of the Old Testament — 
Authenticity of the New Testament — Ancient manuscripts 

— Testimony of the fathers — Ireneus, Origen, Cyprian, 
Bishop of Carthage — Tertullian — Justin Martyr, Papias 

— Apostolic fathers — Clement, Hernias, Polycarp — Tes- 
timony from enemies — Cerinthus, Celsus, Porphyry, Em- 
peror Julian — Collateral testimony — Tacitus — Coinci- 
dences of profane authors with the New Testament writers 

— Josephus' testimony as to our Lord — The acts of Pilate 

— The Latin historians — Pliny's testimony — His letter to 
Trajan — Trajan's reply — Overwhelming evidence for the 
authenticity of the New Testament, 73 



CHAPTER V. 

MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 

Conversation with the Sceptic renewed — Miracles among the 
strongest proofs of inspiration — A miracle ; what is if?- 



CONTENTS. 



VII 



Moral character of the witnesses and workers of miracles — 
Human testimony ; how much force should it have 1 — 
Hume's objections to miracles considered — Dr. Campbell's 
reply — Dr. Dwight on Hume's reasoning — Recapitulation 
— "Were miracles asserted and believed to have been 
wrought % — Quadratus vindicates the New Testament mir- 
acles — Admissions by the enemies of Christianity : Celsus, 
Porphyry, Herocles and Julian — Examples : the man born 
blind, and the cripple at the gate of the Temple — Proofs 
that the apostles were neither impostors nor imposed 
upon, . Ill 



CHAPTER VI. 

PROOF FROM THE FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. 

Prophecy defined — The highest evidence that can be given 
of supernatural visitation — False prophets — Delphic ora- 
cles — Aristotle's and Cicero's opinion of these oracles — ■ 
Prophecies in the Old Testament — Prophecy concerning 
the posterity of Abraham — Prophecy respecting Ishmael 

— The Bedouins — Prophecy respecting the land of Ca- 
naan — Prophecies relating to Tyre, Nineveh and Babylon 

— Prophecies concerning Christ — Daniel's and Isaiah's 
prophecy — Prophecy respecting the success of the gos- 
pel, 144 



CHAPTER VII. 

INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 

Testimony of the Scriptures concerning God — Appropriate 
representations of his attributes — His providence and 
moral government — The doctrines — Man's fallen state — 
Man's original uprightness — Faith in the merits of an= 



VIII 



CONTENTS. 



other — Victory over the world — A future retribution — j 
A resurrection of the body — The morality of the Scriptures 
proof of their divinity — Testimony of infidels to the mo- 
rality of the Bible — Voltaire's testimony — Earl of Roch- 
ester's — .Rousseau's — Bolingbroke's — The morality of 
the Bible examined — The law of the ten command- 
ments — Precepts of the law — Contrast of the morals of 
Christianity and heathenism — Testimony of a French 
traveller — Testimony of Governor Howal and Sir J. Shano 

— Unity of the Scriptures — Supposed contradictions of 
Scripture — Moral tendency of the Bible — Its influence on 
states and governments ; on literature and the arts — 
Progress of the gospel, 168 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 

The Canon — Its meaning — The true books ascertained by 
internal marks — Clearly distinguishable from apocryphal 

— Historical proof abundant so far back as the second cen- 
tury — Ancient manuscripts — Scripture versus science — 
A late form of scepticism — Objections considered — Unity 
of the race — God's omnipotence in connection with mira- 
cles a sufficient answer to scientific objections — Plenary 
inspiration — Conclusion, . 213 



CHAPTER I. 



SCEPTICISM IN RELATION TO THE BEING OF 
GOD. 

Can there be an Atheist % — Indirect attacks against religion 
— Causes of infidelity in the heart — The sceptic intro- 
duced — His statements and the reply — -Objections of the 
Atheist to the being of God : namely, Self-existence ; The 
all*sufficiency of Nature ; No proof that the world had a 
beginning — These objections answered — Argument of 
Locke — Argument of Berkley — Dr. Paley's argument. 

Do any deny the existence of God? Yes, 
my young reader, you will not have lived long 
before you will meet with this dark creed, — if 
creed it may be called, — either in books, or by 
an open and oral declaration. 

An Atheist ! can there be an Atheist ? mc- 
thinks I hear you say, as if such a moral mon- 
ster existed only in the imagination. 

I do not wonder that you are horrified at the 
idea; for a universe without God is but a 
gloomy prison, opening its doors at last to a still 



10 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



gloomier destiny — annihilation. Yet there are 
some who profess this belief ; and there are sen- 
timents constantly put forth, in books and pam- 
phlets, which, if believed and imbibed, inevitably 
lead to it. 

Now-a-days, religion is assailed by its ene- 
mies indirectly. Doubts are suggested in re- 
gard to its fundamental principles ; and scepti- 
cism does more, at the present time, to weaken 
our faith by its insinuations, than by its open 
declarations. 

Be on your guard, then, when any novel sen- 
timents are thrown out, which tend to impair 
your confidence in the great truths which lie at 
the foundation of morality, virtue and piety. 

Remember that Infidelity and Atheism have a 
spontaneous growth in the wickedness of man. 
They come out of the heart. " The fool hath 
said in his heart, There is no God." Hence, 
though often met and refuted, they as often 
recur, and. varying the method of attack, they 
seek again and again to overthrow our faith. 

Accordingly, it is necessary to array the 
arguments and to vary the arguments to suit 
the exigency of the times. The large and 
valuable treatises which have been w T ritten for 
this purpose have been generally above the 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



11 



capacities of youth, or inacessible to the mass 
of readers. It is proposed, therefore, in this 
little volume, to talk to you in a very plain 
and simple style ; and to meet the cavils, and 
contradictions, and absurdities of Infidelity in 
a way that shall not only keep your own faith 
firm, but shall furnish you with good weapons 
to defend it against the attacks to which, at the 
present day, it is exposed. 

Let us introduce the sceptic, and hear w T hat he 
has to say. Don't be frightened at the appari- 
tion. It is only an imaginary sceptic. I wish 
we had no other kind to be afraid of. Alas ! 
there are many living, breathing men, and I fear 
even some women, whose sentiments partake of 
the dark and dreadful features of Atheism. 

Let us have the sceptic before us, then, and 
let us hear what he has to say, — not in dark 
corners, where nobody can see him; nor in 
whispers addressed to the ear and mind of youth 
who have not the means of refuting them ; but 
let us call him, — as they say of the witness on 
the stand, — hear his statements, and then reply 
to them. 

Supposing him before us, we will put the 
inquiry to him : " Sir, on what grounds do you 
deny that there is a God ? But first, what led 



12 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



you to embrace so dismal a theory? Let us 
have something of your history." 

Sceptic. "I was educated, as other youth 
are, to believe in God and the Bible ; and did so 
until I arrived at manhood. Then I read cer- 
tain publications which injected doubts, and r 
pursuing my investigations, the more I read the 
more I doubted, until I was led to reject first 
the Bible, and finally to disbelieve the existence 
of God." 

Querist. "May we inquire if, in the mean 
time, you read any books on the side of Chris- 
tianity, or was all your reading of an infidel 
tendency? " 

Sceptic. "The latter, entirely. I never 
read a full and complete treatise in favor of the 
Christian religion." 

Querist. "Was this giving Christianity a 
fair chance, — was it pursuing a course that an 
honest seeker after truth would adopt ? But 
another question. Did you wish to reach the . 
conclusion that religion had no foundation ? Did 
you hope to find the infidel side of the question 
true? For you know our wishes go to give 
apparent strength even to weak and inconclusive 
arguments. What was the state of your mind 
on this point?" 

■ I 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



13 



Sceptic. u I confess I rather inclined to hope 
that religion, as I had been taught it, was un- 
true, because it gave such dreadful prominence 
to future retribution. I didn't like the idea of 
future punishment; it was a feature in the 
Christian religion that I could not agree to. At 
first, I tried to think it could not be proved from 
the Bible ; but, finding I failed in this, I had no 
resort but to reject the Bible, and become a 
Deist. After trying Deism a while, I began to 
dislike any thought that implied the being of a 
God, and my mind took a course of reasoning 
which led to a final denial of that generally ad- 
mitted opinion. I now call myself a universal 
sceptic." 

Querist. u Can you trace your opinions to 
any course of moral conduct — or rather I should 
say immoral conduct — which you were pursu- 
ing or wished to pursue 2 for sometimes this has 
an influence in shaping one's religious opinions. 
Were you gradually falling into loose and im- 
moral habits when your doubts and reasonings 
led you into infidelity 1 " 

Sceptic. u Why, yes. I was inclined to in- 
dulge in some things which people generally 
think wrong, and which, according to Bible 
2 



1-i 



THE SCEPTIC REPUTED. 



morality, would be wrong, but which I now con- 
ceive to be not only natural, but harmless/' 

Querist. "Do you not think that this dis- 
position to indulgence in what the Scriptures 
forbid, and for which they threaten future pun- 
ishment, had considerable effect in biasing your 
mind in favor of Infidelity, inasmuch as Infidelity 
offers no such impediments to vice?" 

Sceptic. " Possibly it might have had some 
little influence : but. after all. the arguments on 
the side of Infidelity are to my mind sufficient; 
apart from all such influence, and I am ready to 
maintain them against all opposition." 

Well, having now got out of the sceptic some 
of his preliminary history. — which the reader 
will see to have had a natural bearing on his 
present state of mind, if it has not actually pro- 
duced it. — we are prepared to attend, with some 
degree of candor, we hope, to what he may have 
to say in the way of statements and arguments 
which to him seem so strong in favor of Infi- 
delity. 

Querist. "Now, sir, what are the reasons 
which have blotted out of your soul a belief in 
the divine existence ? ' 7 

Sceptic. " I cannot be expected to state the 
whole of them, but I will say that they are prin- 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



15 



cipally as follows : First, the difficulty, nay, im- 
possibility, as I think, of conceiving of such an 
idea as an eternal self-existent Creator ; second- 
ly, the all-sufficiency of nature to produce all 
the results which we see produced in the world : 
thirdly, the state of things which we see going 
on now is that which we have reason to think 
has gone on forever ; and fourthly, the fact that 
man is but a higher grade of the brute animal, 
ending, like them, his whole existence at death. 
These are positions which I think no reasoning 
can overturn, and which satisfy my mind that 
the idea of God and responsibility are mere delu- 
sions, got up to subserve priestly authority, and 
to bring mankind under a system of spiritual 
slavery/*' 

This is frank, and we will meet it in a spirit 
of candor, and give it all the weight it deserves ; 
and if, after putting it into the balances of rea- 
son, and subjecting it to that highest style of 
moral verdict, human consciousness, it appears 
to be but a building based upon the sand, we 
hope that the sceptic will not any longer inhabit 
an edifice destined to crush him by its fall, 
when the floods come and the winds blow and 
beat upon it. 

Let us take up these statements or arguments 



16 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



one by one, and see what can be said upon each 
of them. 

First, the difficulty of conceiving of such an 
idea as an eternal, self-existent Creator. This is 
urged against the. fact of his existence. 

But certainly it must occur to the least re- 
flective mind that, if there be a God who has 
made us and all things, he w T ould be too vast a 
being to be comprehended by his creatures. A 
God that we could comprehend would be no 
God. And hence the inquiry is put in the sub- 
limest language: " Who, by searching, can find 
out God, — who can find out the Almighty unto 
perfection?" Are we to believe nothing that 
we cannot comprehend ? Let us then deny our 
own existence, which is about as great a mys- 
tery as any one visible thing. Let us deny the 
existence of mind, and the law of gravitation, 
and a thousand other influences of nature too 
deep for our comprehension. 

The great point is not whether we can com- 
prehend the idea of an infinite creator, but 
whether there are proofs sufficient to establish 
beyond all question his existence. This is the 
great point, and the matter of comprehension is 
one which may afterwards be considered and 
decided. 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



17 



The second argument or consideration stated 
is the all-sufficiency of nature to produce all the 
results which we see produced in the world. 

Nature is here put in place of an intelligent 
mind and sovereign will, Nature is the Athe- 
ist's god. It is a brute, unconscious force, by 
which all things are said to be effected, and all 
uniform results brought about. But then this 
difficulty meets us : Here is something doing 
the very work which we ascribe to an intelli- 
gent, infinite mind, which is nothing but a brute 
force,— a greater absurdity, and a thing much 
more difficult to comprehend, than to attribute 
these stupendous results to a great and all-con- 
trolling mind. How are we relieved by saying 
that a human body is the work of nature ; that 
all the curious machinery that enters into the 
frame- work of the body — as the eye, the ear, 
the lungs, the stomach, the nerves, the muscles, 
the limbs, and even the conscious soul itself — 
are all the work of nature ? Can the inquisitive 
mind be satisfied w ith that ? 

We look for some adequate cause. To say 
that it is nature, is not satisfactory. Nature is 
a very vague term. It means nothing, it can 
do nothing. How absurd to say that nature 
framed a law by which the planets move ; a law 
2* 



18 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



adjusting the relations of one orb to another so 
nicely that an eclipse can be calculated before- 
hand even to a second of time ! It is very easy 
to get rid of the idea of God by referring this 
all to nature ; but is it reasonable. — is it satis- 
factory ? 

The most common argument against the belief 
of the divine existence, and that which has had 
most weight with the Atheist, is the third con- 
sideration adduced, namely, -''that there is no 
proof that the world ever had a beginning ; and 
that the state of things which we see going on 
now is that which has been going on forever." 

This sounds plausible. But there are one or 
two points which need to be carefully looked at 
and considered. The sceptic says, we have no 
proof tkat the world ever had a beginning. 
What proof, we might ask, has he that it has 
always been as it is now, that it is eternal ? 
How does he know, wkose life covers so small a 
space, that the world is eternal ? But we shall 
show some proofs that this gratuitous declaration 
has no foundations. There are arguments which 
satisfy the best minds that the world, with man 
who inhabits it, must have had a beginning, — 
that such a beginning could not have been chance- 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



19 



work, and that hence it must have been produced 
by an intelligent and infinite mind. 

ARGUMENT OF JOHN LOCKE. 

t 

The celebrated Locke uses the argument just 
alluded to to prove the being of a Gocl. I dare 
say my young reader has heard of John Locke, 
one of the greatest mental philosophers the world 
has produced. He was a profound thinker, and 
his work on the human understanding is proba- 
bly not excelled by any treatise on the same 
subject. When infidels speak derisively of reli- 
gion, ask them if they ever heard of such a name 
as Locke. When they talk of religion as influ- 
encing only weak minds, — as in their ignorance 
they sometimes do, — inquire of them if they 
ever read Locke's argument for the being of a 
God. 

In the estimation of the most candid and in- 
telligent minds, his reasoning is conclusive and 
unanswerable. He begins by asserting that 
"every man knows with absolute certainty that 
he exists. He knows, also, that he did not al- 
ways exist. It is clearly certain to him that 
his existence was caused, not casual ; and that, 
if caused, the cause must have been adequate to 



20 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED, 



the production. An adequate cause is that 
which has sufficient efficacy to bring a certain 
effect to pass. In the present case, an adequate 
cause is one possessing and exerting all the un- 
derstanding necessary to contrive, and the power 
necessary to create, such a being as the man in 
question. This cause is what we are accustomed 
to call God. The understanding necessary to 
contrive, and the power necessary to create, a 
being compounded of the human soul and body, 
can create and contrive anything. He who actu- 
ally contrived and created man certainly con- 
trived and created all things." 

This argument, you perceive, goes on the sup- 
position that wherever there is an effect, there 
also must be an antecedent cause adequate tc 
produce it. This is a first principle in all rea- 
soning. Without admitting the idea of cause 
and effect, we are brought to a dead stand in 
reasoning on both physical and moral subjects. 
Seeing this, and wishing to get rid of the idea 
of responsibility, David Hume, the celebrated 
historian and sceptic, actually denied the con- 
nection of cause and effect in relation to this 
subject. 

Every reflecting mind must see that such a 
denial undermines the foundations of truth, and 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



21 



leaves us without one principle that we can know r 
to be true, or one fact for which we can give a 
rational explanation. 

The very constitution of the human mind re- 
quires that we should believe in this connection. 
The child no sooner begins to compare ideas and 
to draw conclusions, than he is obliged to found 
his reasonings on the connection of cause and 
effect. What is more common than to hear an 
intelligent child inquiring for the cause of every 
effect which falls under his eye ? u Who made 
me?" is one of his first inquiries. u Who made 
the sky, and the trees, and the rivers? 77 The 
little reasoner is searching for the cause of 
nature's exhibitions and changes. 

Now, if to his inquiry who made him, and 
who made the world, you should answer, It 
wasn't made, it was always so, would he be 
satisfied? Suppose you should tell him that 
his father, or some other man, made it, — would 
that satisfy him ? And why ? The cause, even 
to his weak comprehension, would not be ade- 
quate to the effect. You must refer him to a 
cause sufficient, in his view r , to produce so great 
effects. His father may be able to construct a 
watch or a wagon, but he cannot believe him to 
be adequate to the building of a world. There 



22 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



is n't skill and power enough in men to do this, 
and yet everywhere he sees skill and power most 
wonderfully exhibited in all that meets his eye. 
Tell him that God, an infinite being, with wis- 
dom infinite and power omnipotent, made man, 
and made the world, and you give him an ade- 
quate cause. His mind can rest upon this. 

There is a necessity, as appears to me, of 
admitting the idea of cause and effect, arising 
from the very constitution of the human mind. 
Hume denied it only in theory. In his own 
practice he admitted it every clay and every 
hour. No change in body or mind but is indi- 
cative of it. No revolution in the mental or 
moral world but is referred to it. Things do 
exist, and changes take place in them. Things 
that were not begin to exist. Therefore all 
things may have begun to exist. A thing can- 
not be the cause of its own existence. Some- 
thing from without, and that existed before, 
must have produced it. Is that antecedent thing 
matter ? Can mere lifeless matter out of noth- 
ing produce matter ? But, more absurd still, 
can it produce mind ? We know, and our own 
consciousness tells us, that nothing short of 
infinite intelligence and almighty power is ade- 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



23 



quate to produce it, and hence there must be 
a God. 

Is not this argument for the divine existence 
satisfactory, unanswerable ? We do not pretend 
that it is what, mathematically speaking, would 
be called demonstration. But there may be 
truths built upon moral evidence which we can 
as little doubt as the clearest mathematical de- 
ductions. The being of a God is one of them ; 
and the above mode of arriving at it must,- to 
any mind but that of a blinded and confirmed 
sceptic, be perfectly satisfactory. 

Atheists have endeavored to weaken this ar- 
gument by asserting that there is in nature what 
they call "an eternal series," and that this pro- 
duction and reproduction has been going on for- 
ever. Of course this is but a gratuitous asser- 
tion, but a moment's reflection will convince any 
one of its fallacy. 

In whatever period you take man, however 
far back in history, — even if it were a million 
of years, — you are still required to account for 
his peculiar organization, evincing as well at 
one period as at another the skill of an infinite 
contriver, that must have possessed unlimited 
wisdom and power. 

Besides, is it not ^ little remarkable that no 



24 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



traces of this infinite longevity of the world can 
anywhere be found ? We cannot find, by rec- 
ords or by recovered monuments, that the world 
is older than the Bible makes it ; that is, about 
six thousand years. 

The evidence must be adduced of what na- 
tions existed a million years ago. Has any such 
evidence been produced, or can it be ? If, then, 
the world began to exist at any given period of 
time, there must have been an adequate cause, 
a great first cause, to have produced it. That 
cause is God. 

BISHOP BERKLEY'S ARGUMENT. 

Bishop Berkley's argument for the divine 
existence is beautiful, ingenious and satisfactory. 

" We acknowledge," says he, "the existence 
of each other to be unquestionable ; and when 
called upon for the evidence on which this ac- 
knowledgment is founded, allege that of our 
senses : yet it can by no means be affirmed with 
truth that our senses discern immediately any 
man. We see, indeed, a form, and the motions 
and actions of that form, and we hear a voice 
communicating to us the thoughts, emotions and 
volitions, of an intelligent being ; yet it is intui- 



THE BEING OF GOB. 



25 



tively certain that neither the form, the motions, 
the actions, the voice, the thoughts, nor the vo- 
litions, are that intelligent being,, or the living, 
acting, thinking thing, which we call man. On 
the contrary, they are merely effects, of which 
that living, acting thing, denoted by the word 
man, is the cause. The existence of the cause, 
or, in other language, of the man, we infer from 
the effects which he thus produces. 

"In the same manner, and w r ith like certainty, 
w r e discover the existence of God. In the uni- 
verse without us, and in the little world ivithin 
us, we perceive a great variety of effects, pro- 
duced by some cause adequate to the production. 
Thus the motions of the heart, arteries, veins 
and other vessels ; of the blood and other juices ; 
of the tongue, the hands and other members; 
the perception of the senses and the action of the 
mind; the storm, the volcano, and the earth- 
quake ; the reviviscence and growth of the veg- 
etable world ; the diffusion of light and the mo- 
tions of the planets, are all effects, and effects of 
a cause adequate to the production. This cause 
is God, or a living being possessed of intelli- 
gence and power sufficient to contrive and bring 
them to pass. 

"He, with evidence from reason equally clear 



26 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



with the testimony of the Scriptures, £ thunder- 
eth marvellously with his voice; holdeth the 
winds in his fist ; sendeth forth his lightnings 
with rain ; looketh on the earth, and it trem- 
bleth ; toucheth the hills, and they smoke. The 
mountains melt like wax at his presence. He 
causeth the outgoings of the morning and the 
evening to rejoice ; and he maketh his sun to 
rise on the evil and the good.' Him also we 
are bound to praise, because c we are fearfully 
and wonderfully made by him. Our substance 
was not hid from him when we were made in 
secret. His eyes saw our substance yet being 
imperfect ; and in his book all our members 
were written, which in contrivance were fash- 
ioned when as yet there was none of them/ 
He also £ breathed into our nostrils the breath 
of life, and the inspiration of the Almighty hath 
given us understanding. 5 " 

This beautiful argument for the existence of 
God is addressed to us in a manner that cannot 
be resisted. It calls us to view our Almighty 
Creator in every floating atom and quivering 
leaf, as well as in the restless ocean and the 
revolving pknets. In this splendid panorama 
of nature we discern, behind the curtain, an 
intelligent cause and a skilful hand, to which 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



27 



the existence of all is to be referred, and by 
which every change is directed and controlled. 
Even the rude intellect of the savage, who " sees 
God in clouds and hears him in the winds," 
submits to this reasoning, and acknowledges the 
force of this argument. 

Within us, and everywhere without us, there 
are the unmistakable indications of the presence 
of an all-pervading and infinite Spirit. When 
we feel in our heated veins the rush and reflux 
of blood, we cannot but feel that the involun- 
tary and regular march of the fluids is guided 
and controlled by this invisible and almighty 
Agent. When we behold the clouds rising and 
spreading their grateful shade over the withered 
and dusty vegetation ; distilling in genial and 
refreshing showers, to cleanse and revive it ; 
then passing deep into the soil to feed the 
springs and swell the rivers : and then exhaled 
by the sun to be again collected into beautiful 
clouds ; and, after adorning the sky with golden 
vapors, returning to perform the same regular 

; and benevolent task ; we cannot but feel that 
there is, in this revolution of mercy, an invisible 

! but efficient Being, whose hand originally pro- 
duced and is now constantly employed in sus- 
taining the process. 



28 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



In short, we cannot, by day or by night, turn 
our eyes upon the great outlines of nature, or 
her minuter portions, — we cannot survey the 
vegetable, animal or mineral kingdoms, — without 
being impressed with the thought that all this 
beauty, grandeur and regularity, are the product 
of an infinite mind. His footsteps are seen in 
the whirlwind and in the storm. His voice is 
heard in the sky and in the ocean. His mercy 
smiles in the summer clouds. The whispers of 
his love come to us from the fragrant flowers, 
and from the gentle zephyrs. The dark moun- 
tain seems to be his throne, and the still, deep 
forest his sanctuary ; and, when climbing the 
one, or wandering in the other, every light and 
careless emotion is gone, and we feel as if the 
presence of the presiding Deity were surround- 
ing us. He must be blind who sees not God 
in his works. " The heavens declare his glory, 
and the earth is full of his praise." All nature 
seems, by her silent eloquence, to proclaim his 
power. There are times when the impression 
of the divine existence comes upon us with a 
momentary but overwhelming force. It is an 
awful glimpse, — a gleam, as it were, of the eter- 
nal majesty, that appals and astonishes us. An 
instantaneous dread falls upon us. But, in a 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



29 



moment, it is gone. We have just seen enough 
and felt enough to make us exclaim, "How 
great a Being is God ! " 

DR. PALEY'S ARGUMENT. 

The argument for the divine existence often- 
est adduced is that of Dr. Paley. It consists 
in the examination of facts gathered from the 
works of creation as they are presented to the 
view of man. Their evident design, and their 
wonderful adaptation to the sphere in which 
they are found, are presented in such strong 
lights as to force the conviction that a designing 
mind must have been at work to arrange them, 
and a power infinite to bring them into being. 

He opens his argument by the following 
striking illustration: "In crossing a heath, 
suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and 
were asked how the stone came to be there. I 
might answer, that, for anything I" knew to the 
contrary, it had lain there forever ; nor would 
it, perhaps, be very easy to show the absurdity 
of this answer. But, suppose I found a watch 
upon the ground, and it should be inquired how 
the watch happened to be in that place. I 
should hardly think of the answer which I had 
3* 



30 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 

before given, that, for anything I knew, the watch 
might always have been there. Yet, why should 
not this answer serve for the watch as well as 
for the stone 1 Why is it not as admissible in \ 
the second case as in the first? For this reason, 
and for no other, namely, that when we come to 1 
inspect the watch, we perceive — what we could 
not discover in the stone — that its several parts 
are framed and put together for a purpose. For 
example, they are so . formed and adjusted as to 
produce motion ; and that motion is so regulated | 
as to point out the hour of the day ; and that, 
if the different parts had been differently shaped 
from what they are, or placed after any other 
manner or in any other order. than that in which 
they are placed, either no motion at all would 
have been carried on in the machine, or none 
that would have answered the use that is now 
served by it. 

" To reckon up a few of the plainest of these 
parts and their office, all tending to one result : 
We see a cylindrical box, containing a coiled 
elastic spring, which, by its endeavor to relax 
itself, turns round the box. We next observe a 
flexible chain (artificially wrought, for the sake 
of flexure), communicating the action of the 
spring from the box to what is called the fusee. 



THE BEING 0E GOD. 



31 



We then find a series of wheels, the teeth of 
which catch in and apply to each other, con- 
ducting the motion from the fusee to the bal- 
ance, and from the balance to the pointer ; and, 
at the same time, by the size and shape of 
these wheels, so regulating that motion as to 
terminate in causing an index, by an equable 
and measured progression, to pass over a given 
space in a given time. 

1 £ We take notice that the wheels are made of 
brass, in order to keep them from rust ; the 
springs of steel, — no other metal being so 
elastic; that over the face of the watch there 
is placed a glass. — a material employed in no 
other part of the work, but. in the room of 
which if there had been any other than a trans- 
parent substance, the hour could not have been 
seen without opening the case. 

" This mechanism being observed, the infer- 
ence, we think, is inevitable, that the icatch mast 
have had a maker ; and that there must have 
existed at some time, and at some place or other, 
an artificer or artificers who formed it for the 
purpose which we find it actually to answer ; 
who comprehended its construction, and designed 
its use. 

"The application of this argument every one 



32 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



will perceive. To speak in the comparison, the 
mechanism of nature is infinitely more varied, 
complex and beautiful, than the watch. 

" To say, therefore, as some infidels have done, 
that the curious and regular organization of mat- 
ter is of chance, would be more preposterous 
than to say that the watch was produced by 
chance. 

' 1 To assert that it came from a principle of 
order is nonsense, and does not relieve the 
mind. Who ever knew a watch made by a prin- 
ciple of order ? 

" To declare it to be the result of the laws of 
metallic nature is no reply : for a law always 
presupposes an agent ; it implies power, and is 
the order according to which that power acts. 

" There is, then, but one conclusion : As the 
watch by its contrivance and design implies the 
necessity of a contriver and designer, so also 
the organization of matter — as, for example, the 
structure of the human body, infinitely more 
complicated than a watch — implies the necessary 
existence of a being adequate to such a produc- 
tion. That Being is God. 

" The conduct of this argument opens an im- 
mense field of research and curious investigation. 
You may range through the animal, vegetable 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



33 



and mineral kingdoms ; and the closer your 
inspection, the greater will be your astonish- 
ment at the marks of design, and the minute 
and ingenious contrivances, visible in every ob- 
ject that shall come under your observation. 
The organ of vision you will find adapted to 
the light, the lungs to the air, the ear to the 
sound, and all the members of this curious 
frame-work to the external world in which it is 
to act. 

" The field of investigation is so immense that 
we can only allude to it. But go search the 
book of nature, — that great primary oracle of 
God, — and every step of your progress will not 
only teach you that there is a God, but will 
unfold to you lessons of his wisdom, power and 
goodness. Every leaf and flower and dew-drop 
are the changeless testimonials of his skill. The 
human body — so ' fearfully and wonderfully 
made ' — is the living, moving witness of his 
being and perfections. It was his hand that 
gave symmetry to its form, and flexibility to its 
muscles. It was his hand that opened channels 
for the blood, and gave it the law by which its 
circulation is regulated. 

" But take a single organ, — the eye, for exam- 
ple, — and examine it. Placed amid surround- 



34 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



ing and projecting bones, to guard so tender a 
member from the injury of casual blows ; covered 
with a flexible coat, which, at the same time, 
moistens, cleanses and shields it, and this coat 
fringed with a brush to exclude the finer parti- 
cles of floating dust ; at night, when most exposed 
and requiring rest, this coat closes gently over it, 
till the hour for waking. A tube, like a little 
aqueduct, carries off through the nostril the 
superfluous humors. The pupil has the power 
of contracting and dilating to suit the near or 
distant object, and to accommodate the greater 
or lesser glare of light. These are a few of the 
prominent qualities or functions of this beautiful 
and expressive orb of vision, which holds us in 
communication with the beauties and glories of 
the external world ; and in the wdiole range of 
nature nothing more strikingly evinces the 
being and perfections of an intelligent Creator. 
Hence, it has been affirmed that ' an accurate 
examination of the eye is a cure for Atheism." " 
The conclusion is thus forced upon us that 
there is a God, by whom all thing were created 
and by whom they are constantly sustained 
This is a conclusion of immense importance. It 
is the basis of all religious and moral obligation 
There is a God ! The works of nature, no less 



THE BEING OF GOD. 



35 



than the oracles of inspiration, proclaim it. Our 
consciences echo back the sentiment, there is a 
God. Where else could the idea have come 
from 1 Who invented it, and when ? Why is it 
engraven so indelibly on human souls ? Some- 
thing within tells us it is true, and points to that 
day when it will be more fearfully brought 
home to our convictions. What a tremendous 
truth it is, that there exists within us, and above 
us, and around us, a Being who is infinite, and 
holy, and just, and good ! He has numbered 
the hairs of our heads. He notices the slightest 
movements of our thoughts. He has marked 
the exact limit of our existence. Go where we 
may, we cannot escape from Him. Into his 
hands we must fall, and at his tribunal we must 
meet our destiny. 

Look around, and see, in the exhibitions of 
nature, the evidences of his being and his power ! 
See worlds on worlds moving in majestic order 
at his command ! What is man ? Yet has man 
a soul to know this great Being, and to glorify 
Him, if he would. But the proud worm, in 
some instances, denies his God ; in others, he 
admits his existence, but denies his right to 
govern. In all, the insect man rebels against 
his Creator. Why does not the Almighty crush 



36 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



him ] Because He is God, and not man ; be- 
cause He is long-suffering, and willeth not the 
death of him who deserves to die. 

But we did not intend to preach in this little 
volume, — only to reason ; and, therefore, we will 
pause to inquire of our sceptical friend whether 
he thinks now there are not some pretty conclu- 
sive arguments for the being of God. 

Sceptic. " Well, I admit that you have ad- 
duced some powerful arguments, and that there 
is much more to be said on your side of the 
question than I had supposed. But, after all, 
if there be a God, what interest can he take in 
us insignificant creatures? He has only ere- 
ated us, as he has the brutes, to live a while, 
and then to be no more. I cannot believe that 
there is a future state for man, or that the soul 
survives the body. My opinion is, that when 
we die that is the end of us. On this point my 
mind is made up ; nor do I think any man can- 1 
convince me to the contrary." 

Let us, then, examine this point, for it seems 
to me next in importance to the one which we 
have been considering ; and, perhaps, it may be 
found that as much can be said to prove the 
immortality of the soul as to prove the being of 
God. 



CHAPTER II. 



SCEPTICISM IN REGARD TO THE IMMORTALITY 
OF THE SOUL. 

What is the soul 1 — Materialism — The doctrine of immor- 
tality possible and probable — General belief of it among 
all nations — Plato's writings — Testimony of Socrates — ■ 
Bishop Butler's remarks — How far reason proves immor- 
tality — Proof from analogy — Comparison of man and the 
brute animals — Argument from the soul's tendencies and 
capacities — The soul's capacity for improvement — Sus- 
ceptibility to enjoyment and suffering proof of immortal- 
ity. 

What is the soul? It is the part of our 
being which distinguishes us from mere animals 
— puts us immeasurably above the beasts of the 
field and the fowls of the air. It is that in man 
which makes him a moral and accountable being. 
It is not only the thinking part, but the part 
that discerns right from wrong ; the moral 
nature — that by which we can know God, and 
understand our duties and responsibilities. It 
is spirit in distinction from body ; united to the 
4 



38 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



body, dwelling in it, influenced by it, mixed up 
as it were with, it, and ceasing to exhibit its 
effects in this world when the vital cord is sun- 
dered. Hence, some have maintained that it is 
not immortal, but perishes at the dissolution of 
the body. In fact, some go so far as to say that 
it is only one of the effects of our bodily organ- 
ization ; and such are called Materialists. 

But let us look into the matter, and see 
how much ground these materialists have to 
stand upon, and what reasons we have for believ- 
ing in the immortality of the soul. 

A first consideration is, that, if we have 
proved the being of God, we have rendered the 
doctrine of immortality possible, and even plau- 
sible. An infinite God can make the soul im- 
mortal, if he please so to do. 

Another thought : The idea of immortality is 
neither new nor strange ; for a general belief 
prevails, and always has prevailed, that man is 
destined to exist in a future state. This feeling 
is not peculiar to Christian countries. From 
the information which we possess of the feelings 
of pagans, there can be no doubt that solicitude 
about the future state is a general, if not uni- 
versal, characteristic of man. The doctrine of 
transmigration, — that is, the passing of the soul 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 39 



into other animals, to be punished or rewarded 
by dwelling in a noble or mean animal. — as held 
by the Hindoos, and broached at first by so 
renowned a heathen as Pythagoras ; the fancied 
isle of rest and recreation upon which the imag- 
ination of the Indian fastens; with numerous 
other theories of heathenish belief, indicate a 
universal impression in favor of immortality. 

The subject of the soul's immortality was agi- 
tated, and often discussed, by Socrates and his 
disciple Plato. „ Plato, in fact, has written a 
beautiful treatise to prove the immortality of the 
soul. His arguments are so strong, even with- 
out one ray of light from revelation, that any 
candid reader — making all due allowance for 
heathenish ideas which are mixed up with them 
- — will see in them a force not easily resisted. 

It is true that, depending only on the rea- 
soning powers, these great philosophers could not 
perfectly satisfy their minds on this subject. 
They were disturbed by lingering doubts ; but 
then- habitual belief was in favor of immortality. 

TESTIMONY OF SOCRATES. 

The dying testimony of Socrates was to this 
effect : "I hope I am now going to good men ; 



40 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



though this I would not take upon me peremp- 
torily to assert ; but that I shall go to the gods, 
lords that are absolutely good,— this, if I can 
affirm anything of this kind, I would certainly 
affirm. And for this reason I do not take it ill 
that I am to die, as otherwise I should do ; but I 
am in good hope that there is something remain- 
ing for those who are dead ; and that then it 
will be much better for good than for bad men." 

The idea of immortality is not, then, new, nor 
is it peculiar to one age or to any particular 
sect. It is one of those instinctive ideas that 
spring up in the soul itself, of spontaneous 
growth, interwoven, it would seem, with the 
very texture of our nature. This fact, and its 
universality, go to show that it is not a baseless 
idea, but presumptively true. It is as true 
morally as hunger and thirst are physically. 

BISHOP BUTLER'S REMARKS. 

Bishop Butler says that " if our happiness or 
misery in the future life depended not on our 
conduct in this life, the doctrine of immortality 
would be only a subject for curiosity or specula- 
tion ; but, if our present conduct is to give shape 



IMMORTALITY OE THE SOUL. 



41 



to our future destiny, the subject assumes at 
once an importance and solemnity." 

Yes 3 dear reader, it is no mere theory. It is 
a matter of great practical importance. It is a 
question in which you are deeply interested. 
Have you a soul destined to survive the body — 
to live and feel and act, to love and hate, to 
enjoy or suffer, after the body has been resolved 
into its original dust ? A great question this ! 
Around it clusters all that is really important in 
human existence. For, what is man but a su- 
perior kind of brute, if, at death, he ceases, like 
the brute, to exist? No wonder sensualists 
favor this doctrine. Their motto is, " Let us 
eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 

But the doctrine of immortality dissipates at 
once these grovelling views. It invests human 
existence with dignity and responsibility. To 
say that three-score years and ten marks the 
limits of human existence, is surely to deprive 
man of all moral grandeur, and to rob him of all 
elevating motives. 

HOW FAR REASON PROVES IMMORTALITY. 

We do not undertake to say that reason can 
do more than confirm our instinctive notions of 
4^ 



42 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



immortality. Hence it is, that, whilst reason 
renders it probable, revelation makes it certain. 
"Life and immortality are brought to light 
through the gospel." 

It may not be amiss, however, to show what 
proofs we have from reason of the immortality 
of the soul. 

PROOF FROM ANALOGY. 

It is not contended that such reasoning leads 
to anything more than a high degree of proba- 
bility. The argument from analogy is perhaps 
more beautiful than convincing; yet to some 
minds it has adaptation, and with some consid- 
erable force. 

The difference between a mind in maturity 
and at birth is so great, that, according to anal- 
ogy, it would not be preposterous to suppose, at 
death, a change as great, or even greater, to 
take place, as to its capacities and enjoyments. 
The general law of analogy favors this idea. 
The change which insects undergo from the 
creeping to the flying state, the bursting of birds 
from the shell, which is their habitation for a 
time, may indicate a probability that the soul 
will exist with enlarged and appropriate facul- 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 48 

ties in another state. May not the Creator have 
designed these changes which take place under 
our eye and observation as hints to man of his 
own immortality? 

The changes which are produced at birth, and 
from infancy to maturity, are so remarkable as 
naturally to suggest an analogous change at 
death, unless there is ground to believe that the 
soul dies with the body. But there is no evi- 
dence whatsoever that death will have the effect 
to destroy the soul, or even interfere with its 
active powers. From the nature of the case, no 
such evidence can be produced. It is all mere 
supposition ; whereas we have strong probable 
evidence to the contrary. 

No man can know what death is until he ex - 
periences it. Therefore none can assuredly say 
what its effects will be on the thinking part — 
the soul. We stand on equal ground here. The 
sceptic knows nothing, and we know nothing. 
But the fact that, up to the moment of death, 
thousands and tens of thousands have retained 
all their powers of mind, raised and excited 
often to the highest point of activity and com- 
prehension, is presumptive proof that the actual 
shock of death will not interrupt the soul's 
existence. 



44 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



The effect of death is perceptible only on the 
body. We perceive the changes which pass upon 
the flesh, and the blood, and other parts of the 
animal structure, but the mind is meanwhile dis- 
' playing all its wonted energy. What is this but 
the contrast of death and immortality ? 

The body is subject to many changes which 
do not affect the continuance of the mental 
powers. Sleep is one. The soul is then as 
active, even more so, than in our waking hours. 
Syncope, or swooning is another, when the soul 
keeps its past, even though the capacities through 
which it acts are suspended : showing that the 
bodily functions may be interrupted whilst yet 
the soul remains unchanged. 

Another important change which the body 
undergoes is the imperceptible wasting and 
recruiting of the substance which composes it. 
The whole animal frame is, by this process, 
changed every few years. It is said by physi- 
ologists that we retain not a particle of the mat- 
ter which composed our bodies ten years ago. 
But are we conscious of any change in the essen- 
tial properties of the soul ? If, then, we may 
acquire the material of an entirely new body 
without an interruption of the soul's existence, is 
it not probable — more than probable — that 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



45 



death will not interrupt it ? If by a gradual 
process we can part with the matter which com- 
posed one body and receive another, and still 
retain our consciousness and personal identity, 
may we not give up the body by one stroke, — « 
that of death, — and still retain them 1 Men 
have been so mutilated that one-third of their 
bodies has been removed, and yet no change has 
been perceptible on the soul. May we net infer 
from this that the latter can exist even when the 
whole of the body is decomposed ? 

But look at the soul in connection with the 
body ! Does it seem to acknowledge in the lat- 
ter anything more than a medium through which 
it acts. The eye is but as an optical instrument 
to convey the idea of external nature to the soul. 
The ear is a trumpet for the same purpose. The 
touch and the taste — in fact, all the physical at- 
tributes — have a telegraphic communication with 
the soul. But they are not the soul. They are 
auxiliaries and instruments which the soul makes 
use of to gain knowledge. Is it at all probable 
that, when these fail, the soul which employed 
them in the necessities of its present state will 
cease to exist ? 



46 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



COMPARISON OF MAN AND THE BRUTE ANI- 
MALS. 

Sceptic. "But how is this? Will not the 
same argument apply to brutes which you are 
now using to prove the immortality of the soul ? 1 
Are brutes immortal?" 

This is a reasonable inquiry, and well put ; \ 
and we will endeavor to show that there is a dis- 
tinction between men and the brute animals, 
strong enough, and wide enough, to render our 
argument conclusive in favor of the immortality 
of man. 

As to brutes, Dr. Butler says we cannot 
affirm whether they are or are not immortal : 
that is, without the Scriptures, and merely by 
the light of reason, we cannot. But the pre- 
sumption would be they are not immortal. And 
yet their bodies are strikingly like ours. They 
have life, too, and instinct, — almost reason, it 
would seem, sometimes. They sicken and die. 
Now, wherein is the difference between man and 
the brute, — so oreat a difference as to render the 
one merely mortal and the other immortal ? 

I cannot do better, on this point, than to refer 
you to what Dr. Paley says on the subject of 
instinct. "An instinct," says Dr. P., "is a 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



47 



propensity prior to experience, and independent 
of instruction." 

It is this which prompts the bird to construct 
! her nest before depositing her eggs. It is this, 
also, that impels her, by incubation, to warm 
them into life, and which teaches her to nurse 
her young while unfledged with so assiduous and 
tender a regard. The force of instinct is shown 
in many other ways by the various species of 
animals. 

While in this propensity we admire the wis- 
dom and goodness of God, who has adapted the 
nature of his creatures to the sphere and circum- 
stances in which they were destined to exist, we 
can see nothing in mere instinct that implies a 
knowledge of a provision for a future state. 

The instinct, the desires, and the pleasures of 
brute animals, refer, beyond a reasonable doubt, 
to this world only ; and this, we think, is pre- 
sumptive evidence that their existence reaches 
no further. The Creator has given them such 
propensities and powers as adapt them to this 
life, and which render them not only susceptible 
of much present enjoyment, but capable, at the 
same time, of contributing to the gratification 
and necessities of man. In their brief existence, 
these ends are answered. They give no proof of 



48 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



possessing moral peters, or of the existence of 
any ideas of a Creator. They cannot be im- 
pressed with a sense of obligation, or of a future 
state. The reasons are obvious. They were 
never intended by their Creator for any such 
state. Their very constitution renders them 
incapable of such ideas. 

The capacity which some of these animals pos- 
sess of receiving instruction amounts to little 
more than the intelligence necessary for their 
present safety and usefulness. We cannot well 
conceive how, under existing circumstances, the 
brute creation could be subservient to the wants 
of man without the life and sagacity which enter 
into their constitution. Whilst in such life and 
sagacity we are ready to admit a remote analogy 
to the human soul, yet, being destitute of moral 
powers, and incapable of moral cultivation, their 
intelligence is only such and so much as to 
qualify them for the present world. 

Not so with man. There is no limit to the 
possible scope of his powers. Up to a given 
point, — and that a very low one, — you may 
teach a brute ; but you soon find your limit ; 
and, all that you can do, you cannot give the 
most sagacious of brutes any moral ideas or 
impressions. But man is not only capable of 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



49 



endless improvement, — he is also susceptible of 
moral impressions, and acknowledges his obli- 
gations to a Supreme Creator. He cannot, if 
he would, keep his thoughts from piercing into 
eternity. They will overleap death and the 
grave. In despite of him, they will fasten upon 
a future state. 

Now, does not all this imply between man and 
the brute creation a difference sufficient to make 
the one merely mortal and the other immortal ? 

The constitution of the brute is adapted to this 
life only, but that of man is compound ; his is 
adapted both to this life and to that which is to 
come. li The economy (or arrangement) of the 
universe," says Bishop Butler, "might require 
that there should be living creatures without 
rational or moral capacities ; and all difficulties 
as to the manner how they are to be disposed of 
are so apparently and wholly founded on our 
ignorance, that it is wonderful they should be 
insisted upon by any but such as are weak enough 
to think they are acquainted with the whole sys- 
tem of things." 

The above remarks, w T e think, are a sufficient 
answer to the sceptic, who pretends to found an 
argument against the soul's immortality on the 
instinct and sagacity of the brute animals, as 
5 



50 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 

compared with the intellectual capacities and 
moral nature of man. 

ARGUMENT FROM THE SOUI/S TENDENCIES 
AND CAPACITIES. 

The soul, we have said, is capable of moral 
impressions. By this I intend a belief in a su- 
preme being, and a sense of accountability to 
him. If there were no hereafter, how could 
such impressions have found their way into the 
human soul? 

'Sceptic. " Designing priests invented these 
notions." 

Ah ! but how happens it that where no such 
influence ever has or ever could have been ex- 
erted such impressions are still found? They 
are of universal prevalence. 

But let us admit the supposition that they 
were inculcated first by the ministers of religion, 
— how does that help the matter? How did these 
ministers of religion come by these ideas ? And 
how is it that they have impressed the whole 
human race with them ? If immortality, and the 
idea of a God and of accountability, are all vision- 
ary, how is it that the human race should have 
universally believed in them ? 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



51 



Suppose that every religious teacher should 
commence inculcating the opposite or atheistic 
notion, and by every possible means try to erad- 
icate the idea of immortality, — would they be 
successful ? Can anybody believe they would 1 
Could you get mankind to abandon their in- 
stinctive idea of immortality, and to write over 
the graves of their departed relatives, u Death 
is an eternal sleep"? It is folly to refer a 
moral impression which is so deep and univer- 
sal to any influence whatever save the power 
of God, and the oracular voice of our own innate 
consciousness. 

There is a capacity in the soul for just such 
ideas; they are con-natural, — they have always 
prevailed, and always will. God has written 
them on the inner man, and Atheism is a shock 
to our moral nature. 

On the existence of these ideas the whole 
frame-work of society is based. The obligations 
of man to man, and of man to his Maker, are the 
pledges of security to our persons, our property 
and our reputation. If these impressions were 
extinct, all confidence would be destroyed, and 
society would resolve itself into its original ele- 
ments, each one w T alking after the counsel of his 
own wicked heart. This was the case in France 



52 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



during the first revolution, when by Atheism 
men were converted into monsters. We are apt 
to judge of truth by its effects. Truth is sup- 
posed to elevate and purify, to make men better. 
Try Atheism by this rule, — try the denial of 
immortality by it. Look at France when the 
idea of immortality was scouted, — and look at 
England and America, where it is believed ! 
Then draw your own inferences. 

THE SOUL'S CAPACITY FOR IMPROVEMENT. 

There is a point when the functions of the 
body are as perfect as in this life they can be. 
From that period they begin to decline. But 
not so with the soul. It is true that the waning 
powers of the body often, by sympathy and by 
an influence too deep for our inspection, seem to 
drag down the soul along with them. But there 
is no uniformity in this influence. Thousands 
of instances might be adduced, in which, amidst 
the greatest corporeal weakness, and even under 
the decrepitude of age, the mind has retained all 
its vigor and energy. Old men — like Franklin 
and Humboklt — of four-score years have shown 
as fresh and bright an intellect as at forty. 
They have ■ gone on in their investigations, and 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 53 



gathered new ideas, even up to the last limit of 
earthly existence. Does this look as if the soul 
was material, or that its existence was confined 
to so short a space as four- score years ? 

In those cases where the mind seems to fail 
through disease or decrepitude, we observe that 
the outlets or avenues through which the soul 
was wont to act are obstructed, as where the eye 
grows dim, the ear deaf, and the sensibilities 
are palsied. The prison-doors are thus shut, as 
it were, upon the soul; and it would be absurd to 
argue its extinction, when these avenues are 
closed up, and it has not its wonted opportunities 
for development. 

Kenew these organs, — clear away the film from 
the aged eye, open the ear, and send a fresh 
circulation through the veins, — and see how 
quick the imprisoned spirit would show itself! 

The capacity of the soul for improvement is 
illimitable. None can deny this. There is no 
point to which the mind can arrive, when it can 
be said nothing more can be added to its stock 
of information. The wisest man that ever lived 
may be made wiser, and the most learned may 
be taught some additional lessons. The human 
race have been in existence about six thousand 
years, and yet every year and month, and almost 
5* 



54 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



every day, new discoveries are being made, and 
new stores of information added to the general 
stock. In every science there has been a grad- 
ual improvement, and an approximation towards 
perfection. Each succeeding generation takes 
up subjects that were matter of investigation 
to former generations : and they, in turn, are 
obliged to resign them, still imperfectly under- 
stood, to the generations which follow. 

These discoveries and inventions are not owing 
to a natural superiority of one generation over 
another, but occur, in most instances, simply 
because one has lived later on the earth than 
another, and so availed itself of the investigations 
of former times to push forward its inquiries. 
"We stand, as it were, on the shoulders of our 
predecessors, and are therefore enabled to stretch 
our vision beyond them. Who can set limits to 
this progressive improvement? Where is the 
ultimate goal in this immortal race 1 

There seems to me in this illimitable capacity 
a strong indication of immortality. The brute 
animals come quickly to perfection. What they 
know they know by instinct, and beyond a given 
point it is vain to attempt their improvement. 
But when you undertake to instruct the human 
soul, you find an expansive power that unfolds 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



55 



in proportion as you task it. Were our lives 
long enough, you might go on adding science to 
science, and no limit could be fixed to the soul's 
improvement. Is it probable, then, that a being 
capable of such enlargement is to find its only 
sphere of action within the brief period of three- 
score and ten 1 

SUSCEPTIBILITY TO ENJOYMENT AND SUFFERING 
ANOTHER PROOF OF IMMORTALITY. 

There is enjoyment and suffering peculiar to 
the soul, as distinct from the body. Discontent, 
^envy, hatred, despondency, are feelings traceable 
to the soul itself. It will not be contended that 
these passions are dependent on the body, except 
so far as the senses are a means of communicat- 
ing the knowledge of external things to the soul. 
Envy, for example, may come from seeing in the 
possession of another w T hat w T e supposed should 
have been given to ourselves. In this case, 
however, the eye has nothing to do in exciting 
the passion, except as a mechanical means of 
knowledge. The same corroding passion may 
come merely by reflecting in secret upon the 
possibility that another may be more favored 
than ourselves. Thus it will be seen that much 



56 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



of our wretchedness arises from the exercise of 
feelings which are independent of the body, — 
which may be said to inhere, as it were, in the 
soul itself. That they affect the body we do not 
deny. They paint themselves in every feature 
of the speaking countenance. But they come 
from no conformation of the bodily powers. 
How deeply man is capable of suffering through 
their indulgence, it would be impossible to say. 
The unrestrained exercise of one of them would 
render existence a curse. What, then, would 
be the effect of their combined influence ? Would 
any positive ingredient be necessary to the bit- 
terness of a sinner's cup? Given up to the 
unrestrained influence of these evil passions, 
what more fearful punishment could be con- 
ceived 3 

It is easy, also, to conceive of the illimitable 
capacity of the soul for enjoyment. Activity, 
if directed to the attainment of things lawful, 
renders the soul happy. But, besides this, the 
exercise of feelings contrary to those just de- 
scribed — such as contentment, benevolence and 
meekness — produces even in this life great en- 
joyment. There is no reason why the soul may 
not exercise these emotions apart from the body, 
as when connected with it ; nor is there any rea- 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 57 



soning that can prove they may not be exercised 
to an indefinite degree. W e do, in fact, per- 
ceive, in the case of many, a gradual increase of 
such dispositions up to their dying day. In the 
truly good man they continue to strengthen. 
His soul is in progress towards a state of perfect 
felicity. 

Where evil principles prevail, the capacity for 
misery, by their very exercise, continually en- 
larges, and the soul is increasingly wretched. 
Where the contrary principles prevail and are 
continually operative, the capacity for enjoyment 
increases, and the soul is proportionably peace- 
ful and happy. It requires no stretch of the 
imagination to suppose that these beginnings of 
good and evil may be perpetuated. In the good 
man they are the earnest of an eternal blessed- 
ness ; in the wicked, they are the fearful fore- 
shadowings of his predicted doom. 

Thus the capacity of the human soul to enjoy 
or to suffer, from the exercise of feelings which 
are independent of the body, plainly points out 
not only its immortality, but even the retribu- 
tions which are to attend it. It is the dim fore- 
shadowing of the awful or glorious future. 

Such are some of the evidences for our im- 
mortality drawn from mere reason. We do not 



58 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



present them as absolutely decisive, nor as actual 
demonstration ; but they are strong, and to my 
mind quite conclusive. Still must we depend 
on the light which the Scriptures have thrown 
upon the point, — a flood of light, as it were, — 
more than on mere reason. Reason renders im- 
mortality probable, revelation makes it certain. 
" He hath brought life and immortality to light 
through the gospel" 

Having thus considered the proofs for the di- 
vine existence and the soul's immortality, we are 
prepared to consider the evidences that God has 
given us a true record to guide the soul in its 
way to that immortality. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

Furthe.r conversation with the Sceptic — Probability of a 
divine revelation — Morality of the Greek and Roman 
sages — Heathen notions of the Deity — Is God merciful 1 
and how known 1 

Before we proceed further in our course of 
argument, we may as well inquire whether, in 
what has already been said in regard to the be- 
ing of God and immortality, there does not seem 
to be, even to the sceptic, an amount of proof 
which he had not before thought of — and 
whether the side which we take in this contro- 
versy is not capable of being sustained by moral 
evidence satisfactory to any candid mind. 

Sceptic. "I am ready to admit that much 
more has been said in favor of the common 
belief than I supposed could be adduced. In 
fact, as I said before, I have never given a full 
and candid hearing to your side of the question 



60 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



until now; and I am rather surprised, — I will 
not say convinced, — under the reasonings which 
you have put forth on these points. Still I am 
open to conviction ; and if the Bible is true, I 
shall be as ready as anybody to acknowledge it, 
when the proof is fairly and convincingly 
stated." 

Ah ! my friend, you have made a confession 
which betrays the weakness of your cause. 
Atheists and Deists generally look only on the 
side which they wish to be true. And yet how 
strange it is that any man could wish to blot out 
from human belief the idea of a God and immor- 
tality,— the only foundation of religion and vir- 
tue ! How strange this is ! Alas ! it comes 
from that heart which loves sin, and desires to 
practise it without restraint. This is the secret 
cause of all the infidelity, under all its various 
forms, wilich has been maintained among men. 
The ideas of a holy God and of a future retri- 
bution are fearful ideas to a sin-loving heart. 
Hence arguments are sought to undermine these 
great truths, and if possible break their force 
over the conscience. No wonder, then, that you 
and others of the same way of thinking have 
never given a candid hearing to our side of the 
question. But, having had your ear thus far. I 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 61 



may hope that you will give your attention for 
a season to what may be said in another branch 
of the general subject, growing out of what has 
already been established ; I mean the proof for 
the inspiration of the Bible. 

Sceptic. u Well, let us hear what you have 
to say, though I think I can anticipate pretty 
much what will be forthcoming on that subject.'' 

I am well aware that many volumes of great 
weight and worth have been produced to prove 
the inspiration of the Bible ; but, if I may judge 
from what has fallen from you, they have not 
been very closely studied by yourself; so that, 
if attentive, you may possibly gain some new 
light on this very important matter 

PROBABILITY OF A DIVINE REVELATION. 

If we admit the existence of God and the im- 
mortality of the soul, — which, after all that has 
been said, I think we must, — then there is at 
least a probability that our Creator would take 
some measures to communicate his will to his 
intelligent and accountable creatures. With all 
our moral impressions, and all our reasoning pow- 
ers, how, without such a revelation, could we 
know when we performed our duty, or when we 
6 



62 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



neglected it ? How could we know what actions 
were pleasing and what were displeasing in the 
sight of God? How could we ascertain what 
course of conduct he would approve towards our 
kindred, our neighbor, and mankind in general 1 
In fine, how could we determine, in the various 
circumstances of life, the true distinction between 
virtue and vice ? 

It must be remembered that, since we have 
been created moral and accountable beings, we 
must be so treated by him who made us. There 
must be exercised over us a moral government. 
But how, without a revelation from heaven, could 
we understand the nature and learn the laws of 
that government? How could we ascertain 
whether we violated or obeyed the statutes of our 
Almighty Sovereign. 

Besides, is not man a religious being ? Has 
he not always had, and will he not always have, 
some object of adoration or worship? By the 
term " religious being " we do not mean that he 
has right views or right feelings : but still, such 
is his moral nature that he naturally and neces- 
sarily gropes after some being answering to the 
word God. and, if he cannot find the true God, 
he will, out of his own imagination, fabricate 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 68 



some idol-god. The history of the race proves 
this. 

France tried to blot out this sentiment of the 
soul, during what is called the reign of Athe- 
ism ; but human nature revolted at the violence 
done to her moral powers, and called upon the 
government to reerect the broken-down altars, 
and give them back the worship of God. 

There being in the soul this natural yearning 
after some object of religious worship, accompa- 
nied by a sense of obligation, and a desire to 
know what is right and what is wrong, how are 
these desires to be satisfied without a divine 
revelation? The world by their own wisdom 
cannot find out God, nor can they know what is 
right and pleasing to him in human conduct. 
This is evident from the history of ancient and 
modern heathen. 

MORALITY OF THE G^EEK AND ROMAN SAGES. 

"From the ignorance and uncertainty which 
prevailed among some of the greatest teachers of 
antiquity concerning those fundamental truths 
which are the great barriers of virtue and reli- 
gion, it is evident that the heathen had no per- 
fect scheme of moral rules for piety and good 



64 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



manners. Thus, with the exception of two or 
three philosophers, they never inculcated the 
duty of loving our enemies and of forgiving in- 
juries, but, on the contrary, they accounted re- 
venge to be not only lawful, but commendable. 
Pride and the love of popular applause were es- 
teemed the best and most noble incentives to vir- 
tue. Suicide was regarded as the strongest 
mark of heroism. Theft, as is well known, was 
permitted in Egypt and encouraged in Sparta. 
The exposure of infants, and the putting to death 
of children who were weak and imperfect in 
body, was allowed at Sparta, by Lycurgus ; and 
at Athens, the great seat and nursery of philos- 
ophers, it was enacted that infants which ap- 
peared to be maimed should either be killed or 
exposed ; and that the Athenians might lawfully 
invade and enslave any people who, in' their 
opinion, were fit to be made slaves. Among the 
Romans, masters had an absolute power over 
their slaves, whom they might scourge or put to 
death at pleasure. Customary swearing was 
commended, if not by the precepts yet by the 
example of the best moralists among the hea- 
then philosophers, — particularly Socrates, Pla- 
to, Seneca, and the Emperor Julian, in whose 
works numerous oaths, by Jupiter, Hercules and 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 65 



the sun and other deities, are very frequent. The 
gratification of the sensual appetites and the most 
unnatural lusts were openly taught and allowed. 
Many of their most celebrated philosophers and 
heroes not only pleaded for self-murder, but car- 
ried about with them the means of destruction, of 
which they made use, rather than fall into the 
hands of their adversaries, as was the case with 
Demosthenes, Cato, Brutus and Cassius. Sene- 
ca pleads for suicide in the following terms : 
'If thy mind be melancholy and in misery, 
thou mayest put a period to this wretched con- 
dition. Wherever thou lookest, there is an end 
to it. See that precipice ! There thou mayest 
have liberty. Seest thou that tree, that river, 
that w T ell ? Liberty is at the bottom of it. That 
little tree ? Freedom hangs upon it. Thy own 
neck, thy own throat, may be a refuge to thee 
from such servitude ; yea, every vein of thy 
body.' " 

Truth was of small account among many even 
of the best heathens, for they taught that on 
many occasions a lie was to be preferred to the 
truth itself. Plato says: "He may lie who 
knows how to do it in a suitable time." So 
much for the ideas of the most renowned moral 
teachers of Greek and Roman fame ! 
6* 



66 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



HEATHEN NOTIONS OF THE DEITY. 

Gods many and lords many had Greece and 
Eome. Many of these deities were actuated by 
the -worst passions, and chargeable with the worst 
of crimes. The morality of a nation will corre- 
spond with the nature and supposed conduct of 
its gods. How, then, can we wonder that the 
worshippers of Venus should be dissolute, and of 
Mars should be cruel and bloody ! 

"In Tartary, the Philippine Islands, and 
among the savage nations of Africa, the objects 
of worship are the sun, moon and stars, the four 
elements, and serpents ; in Guinea, birds, fishes, 
and even mountains; and almost everywhere, 
evil spirits. In Japan they hold that there are 
two sorts of gods, and that demons are to be ven- 
erated. In Hindostan the Polytheism is of the 
grossest kind, not fewer than three hundred and 
thirty millions of gods claiming the adoration of 
their worshippers. The Hindoo is taught that 
the image which he beholds is really God, and 
the heaviest judgments are denounced against 
him if he dare to suspect that it is nothing more 
than the elements of which it is composed. In 
the apprehensions of the people in general, the 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 67 



idols are really deities ; they occupy the place 
of God, and receive that homage, fear, service 
and honor, which the Almighty Creator so justly 
claims." 

The nature of the heathen deities is cruel and 
malignant. They are feared, not loved. Their 
very appearance is most hideous. They are pro- 
pitiated, in many instances, only by the blood of 
their worshippers. Such are the appalling traits 
in the character of their religion who are left 
without the light of revelation. Such are the 
views of God which unevangelized nations enter- 
tain. 

What a molancholy picture has the heathen 
world always presented on the subject of God 
and of religion ! Who can say that, independent 
of revelation, man can attain to correct ideas on 
these all-important points ? 

IS GOD MERCIFUL, AND HOW KNOWN ? 

There is one other point, of great practical im- 
portance, upon which nature sheds not a particle 
of light. 

Supposing that without a revelation we could 
arrive at some conceptions of the character of 
God, how much of that character could we know ? 



68 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 

. : 

Could we know that he was merciful ? Could 
we ascertain if, consistent with his principles of j 
government, he could pardon sin ? This was a 
stumbling-point in the mind of Socrates. Might 
we not say to that renowned philosopher, who was 
so much perplexed on this point, ' 'Co to your 
oracles and call for an answer. You shall hear 
a response more ambiguous and uncertain than 
was ever yet uttered. Search through the whole 
system of nature; not an intimation will she 
give that shall serve as a clue to the solution of 
this important inquiry.' 7 

The doctrine of forgiveness, the mode in which 
it is to be sought, and the terms on which it is 
granted, can be learned .only through a divine 
revelation. 

This point, we have said, is one of great im- 
portance. There is something in man, wherever 
you find him, in Christian or in heathen lands, 
that tells him that he is a sinner. In some this 
impression is more vague, in others more distinct ; 
but a sense of guilt attaches to the minds of all, 
and makes them more or less anxious about par- 
don. That is a miserable condition, indeed, where 
there is no certain guide on a subject so practi- 
cal and so momentous. 

" Man is not only a subject of the divine gov- 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 69 



eminent, and therefore in the highest degree 
concerned to know the divine law, that he may obey 
it y but he is also a rebel subject, and therefore 
in the highest degree concerned to discover the 
means of restoration to the favor of God. Man 
has violated such precepts of the divine law as 
are discovered and acknowledged either by rea- 
son or revelation ; such precepts, for instance, as 
require him to be thankful to his Maker, and 
sincere, just and kind, to his fellow-men. These 
are natural duties, prior to revelation ; for phi- 
losophers who acknowledge God have generally 
agreed that these are plainly duties of man. But 
all men have violated the precepts which require 
these things. The first interest of all men is, 
therefore, to obtain a knowledge of the means, 
if there be any, of reconciliation to God, and 
reinstatement in the character and privileges 
of faithful subjects. To be thus reconciled 
and reinstated, men must be pardoned, — and 
pardon is an act of mere mercy. But of the 
mercy of God there are no proofs in his provi- 
dence. 

"The light of nature indeed showed their 
guilt to the most reflecting of the ancient philos- 
ophers, but it could not show them a remedy. 
From the consideration of the divine goodness, 



70 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



as displayed in the works of creation, some of 
them indulged the hope that the Almighty might, 
in some way or other, — though to them inscru- 
table, — be reconciled : but in what manner rev- 
elation only could inform them. That God will 
receive returning sinners, and accept repentance 
instead of perfect obedience, — and that he will 
not require something further for the vindication 
of his justice, and of the honor and dignity of 
his laws and government, and for more effect- 
ually expressing his indignation against sin, 
before he will restore men to their forfeited 
privileges, — they could not be assured. For it 
cannot be positively proved, from any of the 
divine attributes, that God is absolutely obliged 
to pardon all creatures, all their sins, at all 
times, barely and immediately upon their re- 
penting. 

" There arises, therefore, from nature, no 
sufficient comfort to sinners ; but, on the con- 
trary, anxious and endless solicitude about the 
means of appeasing the Deity. Hence the va- 
rious ways of sacrificing, and numberless super - 
stitions, which overspread the heathen world, 
were so little satisfactory to the wiser part of 
mankind, even in those times of darkness, that 
the more reflecting philosophers could not forbear 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 71 



frequently declaring that they thought those 
rites could avail little or nothing towards ap- 
peasing the wrath of a provoked God, but that 
something was wanting, though they knew not 
what." 

It thus appears that neither the knowledge of 
God, nor a pure morality, nor the possibility of 
pardon, nor the way in which it could be ob- 
tained, could be known without a divine revela- 
tion. 

Now, is it reasonable to suppose that a benevo- 
lent Creator, who had given us souls capable of 
knowing Him, and placed us under a moral 
government, would leave us to grope in the 
darkness of nature for light on these all-import- 
ant subjects? Is it not, according to our rea- 
soning, highly . probable that, in some way, he 
would make his will and our duty and destiny 
known ? 

Thus are we led to look as naturally for 
the bread of life for the soul, conveyed to us 
by a revelation, as we are to expect food for 
the body, supplied to us from the sources of 
nature. He who takes care for the body — so 
soon to perish — will surely make provision for 
the soul, which is the undying part of our na- 
ture ! Once admit the being of God, and man's 



72 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



dependence and responsibility, and it seems to 
me to follow, as an almost certain consequence, 
that a divine communication will be made, in 
order to guide us in the way of duty and of 

blessedness. 



CHAPTER IV. 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 

What included in external evidences — Testimony of Philo 
and Josephus to the authenticity of the Old Testament — 
Authenticity of the New Testament — Ancient manuscripts 

— Testimony of the fathers — Irenseus, Origen, Cyprian, 
Bishop of Carthage — Tertuliian — Justin Martyr, Papias 
—-Apostolic fathers — Clement, Hermas, Polycarp — Tes- 
timony from enemies — Cerinthus, Celsus, Porphyry, Em- 
peror Julian — Collateral testimony — Tacitus — Coinci- 
dences of profane authors with the New Testament writers 

— Josephus' testimony as to our Lord — The acts of Pilate 

— The Latin historians — Pliny's testimony — His letter to 
Trajan — Trajan's reply — Overwhelming evidence for the 
authenticity of the New Testament. 

The necessity and probability of a divine rev- 
elation having been shown, we next approach 
the question, On what rests the claim of that 
book which we call the Bible to be such a rev- 
elation from God to man ? The proofs generally 
adduced are of two kinds, external and inter- 
nal. The former embraces the authenticity of 
the books, miracles, prophecy, the progress and 
•7 



74 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



influence of the gospel ; the latter comprises the 
nature and tendency of the doctrines of the 
Bible. 

It must be evident that in a book of such di- 
mensions, "written at various periods, and em- 
bracing such a diversity of topics, there must be 
ground for many trifling objections, which a 
caviller might pick up, but which it would be 
as unreasonable to make a ground of serious al- 
legation against the vast whole, as it would be 
to find fault with the sun because, though emit- 
ting such a flood of light, there has nevertheless 
been found, by the aid of the telescope, some 
spots or nebula floating on his surface. 

We shall not ask your attention to the proofs 
for the authenticity of the Old Testament, for 
several reasons. First, because, if we make it 
clear that the books called the New Testament 
are authentic and inspired of God, the Old Tes- 
tament, by a sort of necessary inference, must 
be allowed the same claim. Second, because the 
J ews, in all ages, as far back as history goes, 
have by common consent maintained the genu- 
ineness and authenticity of their Scriptures. 
Philo, an Egyptian Jew, who lived in the first 
century of the Christian era, ascribed canonical 
authority to those books, and to none other. 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



75 



which are contained in the Hebrew Bible, and 
which alone are acknowledged by the Jews of 
Palestine. Josephus — who was cotemporary 
with the apostles, himself a J ewish high priest 
— says : u We have not thousands of books dis- 
cordant and contrary to each other, but we have 
twenty-two, which comprehend the history of 
all former ages, and are justly regarded as di- 
vine. Five of them proceed from Moses. They 
include as well the laws as an account of the 
creation of man, extending to the time of his 
(Moses') death. The prophets, who succeeded 
Moses, committed to writing in thirteen books 
what was done in their clays. The remaining 
four books contain hymns to God (Psalms) and 
instructions of life for man. 77 Third, because 
all who know anything of history are acquainted 
with the fact that, two hundred and eighty years 
before the Christian era, the Greek version of 
the Old Testament, usually called " the Septua- 
gint," was executed at Alexandria, — the books 
of which are the same as in our Bibles. 
" Whence," says an author, " it is evident that 
we still have those identical books which the 
most ancient Jews attested to be genuine, — a 
benefit this which has not happened to any 
ancient profane books whatsoever." 



76 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



For these reasons, we shall invite attention 
principally to the proofs and arguments for the 
authenticity and inspiration of the New Testa- 
ment. 

AUTHENTICITY. OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

Here is a book — or rather a collection of 
books — in our possession, of a cast of character 
very peculiar, and which, by a glance, we dis- 
cover claims to be a revelation from God, and 
just such a one as we need. It professes to have 
• been written by men under a direct, divine im- 
pulse, and so far back as eighteen hundred 
years. A large portion of it is narrative, and is 
employed in describing the birth, life, doctrines, 
death and resurrection, of one named Jesus 
Christ ; and maintains throughout the idea that 
he was the Messiah expected by the Jews, and 
that his - death was an atoning sacrifice for our 
lost race, whereby the Almighty, upon our re- 
pentance and faith in Christ, can and does par- 
don our sins, and restore us to the divine favor. 

This wonderful book lies before us, and the 
inquiries most natural in regard to it are these : 
"Was this book written at the date which it pro- 
fesses to bear ? Were the men who wrote it 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



77 



truly inspired of God ? And has there been no 
corruption in text as originally inscribed ? 

ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS. 

It is interesting to know that several very 
old manuscripts have, by an overruling provi- 
dence, been preserved and transmitted, of the 
New Testament ; which go to prove that its date 
is authentic, and that it must have been written 
at or about the time in which it professes to 
have been written. One of the most important 
of these is the " Codex Alexandrinus,''* deposited 
in the British Museum. Its elate, according to 
the profound investigations of a distinguished 
biblical critic, Dr. Waide, is fixed between the 
middle and end of the fourth century. 

1 1 This celebrated manuscript, which had been 
revered as a treasure by the Greek church for 
several ages, was presented to King Charles the 
First by Cyril , Patriarch of Alexandria, and 
was transmitted to England by Sir Thomas Roe, 
ambassador at the Ottoman Porte, in 1628. 
The writer of it is said to have been Thecla, an 
Egyptian lady, early in the fourth century. 
Her copy is complete as to its contents, though 
now bearing marks of accidents to which it has 



78 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 

been exposed. Its value is further enhanced by- 
observing that whatever, opinions in subsequent* 
ages, agitated the Christian world, they have had 
no influence on this copy. It neither omits nor 
inserts nor dismembers a word to accommodate 
a passage to such sentiments. ' It was not many 
removes distant from the originals, of which it is' 
a faithful transcript. The language was still 
spoken ; and, whatever ambiguities occurred, 
they were then easily explained, and properly 
understood by the copyist ; so that one principal 
cause of literary and verbal errors did not exist." 
A full account of this interesting manuscript 
may be found in Calmet's Dictionary. 

Several other ancient manuscripts are in ex- 
istence, some of which are supposed to be older 
even than the Alexandrian. The total number 
is about five hundred. 

But we are not left to depend on these ancient 
manuscripts alone for the authenticity of the 
books composing the New Testament; for, as 
several able writers have very justly remarked, 
" There is no ancient treatise concerning which 
the evidence for its genuineness is so various and 
accumulated as that in favor of the New Testa- 
ment. There exists, happily, a regular chain of 
proof, that the New Testament, as we have it, 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



79 



was written at ' the time it professes to have 
been. 

TESTIMONY OF THE ANCIENT FATHERS. 

Many of the writings of the early fathers — - 
those who lived near the times of the apostles — 
have been transmitted to us. If in these we 
find quotations from all the canonical books of 
the New Testament, it is clear that these books 
are the genuine ones, and must date their origin 
anterior to these writers. 

IRENiEUS. 

Irenseus, who was Bishop of Lyons about the 
year 170, bears testimony to the genuineness and 
authority of the New Testament ; and that testi- 
mony is the more important and valuable, be- 
cause he was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a 
disciple of St. John, and had also conversed with 
many others who had been instructed by the 
apostles and immediate disciples of Jesus Christ. 
Some of his works are lost, but his five books 
against heresies remain. In these there is 
ample testimony to the authenticity of the books 
of the New Testament ; for he describes their 



80 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



authors and the occasions on which they were 
written, and quotes from all except the Epistle 
to the Hebrews, to Philemon, Third Epistle of 
John, and the Epistle of Jude. 

ORIGIEN. 

Origen flourished in the third century. He 
was born in Egypt, Anno Domini 183, and died 
in the year 253. This learned man wrote a 
three-fold exposition of all the books of scripture. 
In that portion of his works which has come 
down to us, he uniformly bears testimony to the 
authenticity of the New Testament as we now 
have it ; and he is the first writer who has given 
us a perfect catalogue of those books which 
Christians have unanimously considered as the 
genuine and divinely-inspired writings of the 
apostles. 

CYPRIAN, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE. 

In the writings of Cyprian, who flourished a 
few years after Origen. and suffered martyrdom 
in the year 258, there are copious quotations 
from almost all the books of the New Testament. 
Dr. Lardner, a laborious scholar, and eminent 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



81 



critic, at an immense expense of labor, has ex- 
plored the original writings of these fathers, and 
given, in his celebrated work, such extracts as 
were necessary to corroborate his positions in 
favor of the authenticity and genuineness of the 
New Testament. 

Dr. L. observes, "That the quotations from 
the small volume of the New Testament, by 
Tertullian, who was born in the year of our 
Lord 160, are both longer and more numerous 
than the quotations are from all the works of 
Cicero, in writers of all characters for several 
ages." 

TERTULLIAN' S TESTIMONY. 

" Tertullian has expressly affirmed that, when 
he wrote, the Christian Scriptures were open to 
the inspection of all the world, both Christians 
and heathens, without exception. And it ap- 
pears, also, that in his time there was a Latin 
version of a part, if not the whole, of the New 
Testament ; for he appeals from the language 
of such version to the authentic Greek." " Sci- 
amus plane non sic esse in Greco authentico." 



82 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



JUSTIN MARTYR. 

u This father sealed with his blood his confes- 
sion of the truth of the Christian religion. He 
was one of the most learned fathers of the second 
century. He was born in Sichem, a city of 
Samaria, about the year 89. He was converted 
to Christianity in 183. and suffered martyrdom 
in 164. He wrote several pieces, of which only 
two, — his apologies for the Christians — one 
addressed to the Emperor Titus Antoninus Pius, 
and the other to Marcus Antoninus ' and the 
• Senate and people of Rome — and his dialogue 
with Trypho the Jew, — have been preserved. 
From this dialogue, it appears that before his 
conversion Justin had studied carefully the 
Stoic, Pythagorean and Platonic systems of 
philosophy, and that he embraced Christianity 
at last, as the only safe and useful system. 
The sincerity, learning, and antiquity of Justin, 
constitute him a witness of the highest import- 
ance. He has numerous quotations from, as 
well as allusions to, all the four gospels, which 
he uniformly represents as containing the genu- 
ine and authentic accounts of Christ and of his 
doctrine. Further, he represents that the 
memoirs of the apostles were read and ex- 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



83 



pounded in the Christian assemblies for public 
worship. Whence it is evident that the gospels 
were at that time well known in the world, and 
not designedly concealed from any one. He 
bears also the same testimony to most of the 
epistles. " 

PAPIAS. 

" Anterior to Justin was Papias, Bishop of 
Hieropolis, in Asia, in the year 110. He was 
acquainted with Poly carp, if not with the apos- 
tle John himself ; and he too bears testimony 
to the gospels of Mathew and Mark, also the 
Epistles of Peter and John, and alludes to the 
Acts and Revelation. 

" We are thus carried back to Barnabas, 
Clement, Hermas, Ignatius and Polycarp ; who 
are styled the Apostolic Fathers." 

APOSTOLIC FATHERS. 

" Barnabas was the fellow-laborer of Paul. 
(See Acts xiii., and 1 Cor. ix.) He is the author 
of an epistle, still extant, which is full of evi- 
dence to the existence and genuineness of the 
New Testament." 

" Clement, Bishop of Rome, and also fellow- 



84 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



laborer of the apostle Paul (see Phil. 4: 3), 
wrote an epistle in the name of the church of 
Rome to the church in Corinth, which contains 
several passages as they are recorded in the gos- 
pels, tie also cites most of the epistles. He 
was ordained Bishop of Rome in 91, and died in 
the third year of Trajan, Anno Domini 100." 

u Her mas was also cotemporary with Paul, 
by whom he is mentioned in his epistle to the 
Romans (16 : 14). He wrote a work entitled 
'Pastor,' which was greatly esteemed by the 
fathers, and contains numerous allusions to the 
New Testament." 

"Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was the dis- 
ciple of St. John. He had conversed with 
many who had seen Jesus Christ; and he is 
supposed to be the angel of the church at 
Smyrna, to whom the epistle in the Revelation 
is addressed. He wrote much ; but one epistle 
only has come down to us, in which there are 
nearly forty allusions to the different books of 
the New Testament. He suffered martyrdom in 
the year 166." 

The fact that these fathers quote freely from 
all those books which we include in the sacred 
canon proves they were regarded as of divine 
authority in their time, and greatly strength- 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



8*4 



ens our confidence, not only in the antiquity, but 
the authority, of these books. They speak of 
them by the terms " scriptures," "sacred scrip- 
tures,' 7 and the " oracles of the Lord." By these 
phrases they indicate their reverence for them 
as inspired documents. These men, too, lived at 
different places and in different periods. They 
were men of great learning and acuteness ; and 
they all concur to prove that the books of the 
New Testament were equally well known in dif- 
ferent and distant countries, and were received 
as authentic by men who had no intercourse with 
one another. 

But, if the testimony of friends is objected 
to, let us look at what enemies and pretended 
friends say on this subject. 

TESTIMONY FROM ENEMIES. 

"Cerinthus, who was cotemporary with the 
apostle John, maintained the necessity of circum- 
cision, and the observance of the Mosaic law; 
and because Paul delivered in his epistles a con- 
trary doctrine, Cerinthus and his followers denied 
that he was an inspired apostle. Paul's epistles, 
therefore, were extant in the first century, and 
were acknowledged to be his by the Corinthians. 



86 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



" Among the heretics who erased and altered 
passages of scripture, was Marcion, who flour- 
ished in the beginning of the second century. 
He was excommunicated by the orthodox Chris- 
tians, which greatly incensed him : and if he 
could have proved the Scriptures a forgery, he 
would have done it; but all he affirmed was, 
that the gospel of Matthew, the epistle to the 
Hebrews, with those of Peter and James, as well 
as the Old Testament in general, were writings 
not for Christians, but for Jews." " His attack 
upon the sacred canon," says an author, "led 
the Christians to examine and settle it with the 
greater accuracy." 

These were pretended friends of the Scrip- 
tures. But we have the testimony of avowed 
and bitter enemies ; and it has been remarked 
with equal force and justice, by Chrysostom, one 
of the fathers, "that Celsus and Porphyry, two 
enemies of the Christian religion, are powerful 
witnesses for the antiquity of the New Testa- 
ment, since they could not have argued against 
the tenets of the gospel if it had not existed in 
that early period." 

u Celsus flourished towards the close of the 
second century. He not only mentions by name, 
but quotes passages from the books of the New 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



87 



Testament ; so that it is certain we have the 
identical books to which he referred. In no one 
instance did he question the gospels as books of 
history ; on the contrary, he admitted most of 
the facts related in them ; and this acute adver- 
sary professed to draw his arguments from the 
writings received by its professors as genuine." 

"The testimony of Porphyry/' says Michaelis, 
'f is more important than that of Celsus. He is 
universally allowed to be the most sensible as 
well as severe adversary of the Christian religion 
that antiquity can produce. His acquaintance 
with the Christians was not confined to a single 
country, but he had conversed with them in 
Tyre, in Sicily, and in Rome. He possessed 
every advantage w T hich natural abilities or polit- 
ical situation could afford, to discover whether 
the New Testament was a genuine work of the 
apostles and evangelists ; but never does it appear 
to have occurred to Porphyry to suppose it spuri- 
ous. What a triumph would it have given him 
in argument, if he could have shown that it was 
not authentic ! What a mortal blow would it 
have enabled him to have struck at the religion 
which he aimed to destroy ! But so far is this 
from being the case, that Porphyry not only did 
not deny the truth of the gospel history, but 



88 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



actually considered the miracles of Christ as real 

facts." 

" One hundred years after him, flourished the 
Emperor Julian (A. D. 381), surnamed the 
apostate. Though he resorted to the most artful 
political means of undermining Christianity, he 
was inferior, as a writer* to Porphyry. From 
various extracts of his works against Christians, 
it is evident he did not deny the truth of the 
gospel history, though he denied the deity of 
Christ, asserted in the evangelists. Referring to 
the differences between the genealogies of Mat- 
thew and Luke, he noticed them by name, and 
recited the sayings of Christ in the very words 
of the evangelists. He himself expressly states 
the early date of these records. He nowhere 
pretends to doubt it." 

The admissions of the Emperor Julian, though 

an avowed enemy, are all-important, as settling 

the fact that the books which we hold to be the 

Scriptures were so regarded in his day, and far 

bevoncl it. 
«/ 

Here we have Ceteris in the second century, 
Porphyry in the third, and Julian in the fourth 
century, all virulent enemies, yet not one of 
them expressing even a suspicion against the 
authenticity of these books; never insinuating 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



89 



that Christians were mistaken in the authors to 
■whom they ascribe them; "and/ 5 says Dr. 
Paley, "when we consider how much it would 
have availed them to have cast a doubt upon this 
point, if they could, and how ready they showed 
themselves to take every advantage in their 
power, and that they were all men of learning 
and inquiry, their concession, or, rather, their 
suffrage on the subject, is extremely valuable." 

To trace properly the stream of testimony in 
favor of the New Testament back to the very 
date of its origin, would be a vast work, so 
many are the materials for this purpose. But 
what has been given, though a mere sketch, is 
sufficient, I would hope, to confirm the Chris- 
tian, if not to convince the sceptic. 

COLLATERAL TESTIMONY. 

But collateral testimony comes in, all along, to 
corroborate our position. The controversies of 
the church, which elicited the writings of Origen, 
of Cyprian, of Irenasus, of Polycarp, and a host 
of other subsequent defenders of the truth, were 
so many occasions made use of by Providence to 
preserve the chain of evidence to the authen- 
ticity of his holy Word. 
8* 



90 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



TACITUS. 

Little thought Tacitus, the Roman historian, 
that his classic pen, which indited so unworthy 
a paragraph against Christians and their heroic 
sufferings, was then polishing an arrow to be 
used in after ages by the defenders of that hated 
faith ! But God can cause " the wrath of man 
to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He 
can restrain. ;? 

How can we sufficiently admire that overrul- 
ing Providence, which, in every age, has not 
only preserved the Scriptures from destruction, 
but flanked them, as it were, by such a host of 
invincible testimony ! If from the fifth century 
backwards no trace could have been found of the 
existence of the New Testament, no allusions to it 
in cotemporary authors, no attacks from enemies 
or defences from friends, how certainly should 
we have been obliged to surrender the ark of our 
hopes ! But the further we travel back in our 
investigations, the more do the proofs thicken 
upon us, until we arrive at the consecrated age, 
and among the original witnesses and actors in 
the scenes ! The whole land of Palestine is a 
silent but glorious witness for the authenticity 
of the Bible. The mouldering columns of the 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 91 

Acropolis at Athens, the scattered fragments of 
that classic soil, speak not more strongly of the 
existence of her sculptors and architects, than 
does every mountain, river and ravine of Canaan, 
of the presence and pilgrimage of the Son of God ! 

Men have gone with the Bible in their hand, 
and it has proved as a guide-book in that far- 
famed region. As they have identified its local- 
ities, they have felt their imaginations glow and 
their hearts warm with the hallowed associations. 
Jerusalem is still there ; shorn, indeed, of her 
former splendor, but telling, even in her dimin- 
ished grandeur, the whole story of the gospel. 
There is the Mount of Olives, where Jesus wept 
and prayed, and Tabor, where he was transfig- 
ured, and Calvary, where he bowed his head in 
death. 

Go, sceptic, to that scene of wonders, and 
learn to reverence at least the veracity which 
has been so faithful even in its allusions to that 
land ! 

Here is a book, whose very antiquity should 
awaken a deep interest. We do not pretend to 
have culled a hundredth part of the testimony 
to its age and authenticity ; but, so far as I have 
gone in the investigation, I can say of my own 
convictions, that I just as much believe that this 



92 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



book (the New Testament) was written when it 
professes to have been, and by its reputed au- 
thors, as I believe that Milton wrote the " Para- 
dise Lost," and Baxter "The Saint's Everlasting 
Rest." 

COINCIDENCES OF PROFANE AUTHORS WITH THE 
NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS. 

Before proceeding with the proof that the 
authors of the New Testament were inspired of 
God, it may be well to give a few specimens of 
historical coincidences between the apostles and 
Jewish and profane authors. If the allusions of 
both are to the same personages and events, it 
w T ill render it certain, even to sceptical minds, 
that the New Testament is an authentic book, at 
least. 

The New Testament informs us that Jesus 
was born in Judea, in the days of Herod the 
king. Now, Josephus tells us that "a prince 
of that name reigned over all Judea for thirty- 
seven years, even to the reign of Augustus." 
Josephus describes him as a cruel tyrant, which 
answers to the description of him in the New 
Testament. 

"Herod," says Josephus, "left three sons, 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



93 



one of whom. Archelaus, he by his will appointed 
to reign over Judea. Another, Herod Antipas, 
was Tetrarch of Galilee ; and Philipwas Tetrarch 
of Trachonitis.'" This is Josephus' testimony. 
What says Luke? " Now in the fifteenth year 
of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Herod being Te- 
trarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip being 
Tetrarch of the region of Trachonitis,''' &C. 

Josephus affirms that Archelaus reigned as 
the successor of his father, which coincides with 
the account of Matthew. 

St. Luke relates, in Acts 12: 3, that Herod 
the king, having killed J ames the brother of 
John with the sword, and, because he saw that 
it pleased the Jews, proceeded to take Peter 
also : and Josephus represents this Herod as 
manifesting great zeal for the Jews, which ac- 
counts for his persecutions of the disciples. 
"His death.*' says one, " is related by Luke and 
Josephus with so much harmony, that, if Jose- 
phus had been a Christian, one would certainly 
have thought that he intended to write a com- 
mentary on that narrative.' ' (Acts 12 : 20 — 23.) 
Josephus says "that he came into the theatre 
early in the morning, dressed in a' robe made 
wholly of silver, of most wonderful workmanship ; 
and that the reflection of the rays of the sun 



94 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



from the silver gave him a majestic and awful 
appearance." "In a short time/' says Jose- 
phus, '"his flatterers exclaimed, one from one 
place, and one from another, though not for his 
good, that he was a god ; and they entreated him 
to be propitious to them, saying, Hitherto we 
have reverenced thee as a man, but henceforth 
we acknowledge that thou art exalted above mor- 
tal nature." " Immediately after he was seized 
with pains in his bowels extremely violent, and, 
being carried to his palace, he died, worn out 
with these pains." These narratives are con- 
sistent, Luke relating the cause and Josephus 
the effect of his disorder. 

Tacitus and Josephus mention Felix, who 
was Governor of Judea on the death of Herod ; 
and, what is worthy of note, they refer to his 
having taken Drusilla, the daughter of Herod, 
she having abandoned her lawful husband, — 
Asizus, King of the Emessenes, — to live with 
him. (See Acts xxiv.) 

Luke, in the Acts, mentions Galleo, Proconsul 
of Achaia, and speaks of him as a temperate and 
humane man. The same character is recorded 
of him by the celebrated philosopher Seneca, 
who was his brother. 

When an uproar was made, and Paul was 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



95 



brought before the civil tribunal, the Roman 
magistrate asked him, " Art thou not that Egyp- 
tian which before these days madest an uproar, 
and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand 
men who were murderers? " 

Now, here is an historical fact of some import- 
ance. What says Josephus in relation to it'? 
He has recorded at length this very incident ; 
and there is a remarkable coincidence between 
his account and that of St. Luke : for he men- 
tions not the name of this insurrectionist, but 
calls him the Egyptian, and says that " Felix 
marched into the wilderness against him, and 
that he escaped with but a small part of his 
army." 

Paul represents the Athenians as very super- 
stitious (see Acts xvii). All antiquity bears 
the same testimony. " They crowded into their 
capital all the divinities of the known world. 
So encumbered w r ere their streets with them, 
that it was said that it was easier in Athens to 
find a god than a man." 

The account which Luke gives of the Atheni- 
ans is, that " they spent their time in nothing 
else but to tell and hear some new thing " 
(Acts 17 : 21) ; and Demosthenes, their great 
orator, holds the following remarkable language : 



96 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



While ice — for the truth must not be concealed 
— are confined within our walls in perfect inac- 
tivity, delaying and voting, and inquiring in 
the public places whether there is any new 
thing" 

Paul quotes from the poet Epimenedes a line 
in which the Cretans are represented as pro- 
verbial liars (see Titus 1 : 10, 11). And history 
informs us " that from the time of Homer the 
island of Crete was regarded as the scene of 
fiction, — that the inhabitants were infamous for 
the violation of the truth ; and, at length, their 
falsehood became so notorious, that to Cretize, or 
imitate the Cretans, was a proverbial expression 
among the ancients for lying P 

JOSEPHUS' TESTIMONY AS TO OUR LORD. 

As the history of Josephus embraces the 
period within which our Lord is said to have 
lived and died, it is natural to expect in his 
writings some allusion to these events. 

In the eighteenth book of his Antiquities there 
occurs the following remarkable passage. After 
relating a sedition of the Jews against Pontius 
Pilate, which the latter had quelled, he says, 
" Now, there was, about this time, Jesus, a wise 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



97 



man, if it be lawful to call him a man — for he 
performed many "wonderful works. Pie was a 
teacher of such men as would receive the truth 
w T ith pleasure. He drew over to him many of 
the Jews, and also many of the Gentiles. This 
w r as the Christ (or Christ was this one) ; and 
when Pilate, at the instigation of the principal 
men among us, had condemned him to the cross, 
those who had loved him from the first did not 
cease to adhere to him ; for he appeared to them 
alive again on the third day ; the divine prophet 
having foretold these and ten thousand other 
wonderful things concerning him, and the tribe 
or sect of Christians, so named from him, sub- 
sists to this time." 

This passage carries such irresistible force 
with it, that the only resort of the enemies of 
the Christian faith has been to pronounce it 
spurious. But look at the evidence of its genu- 
ineness. 

First, It is found in all the copies of JoseplmV 
works, whether printed or in manuscript ; and 
also in a Hebrew translation preserved in the 
Vatican library. 

Second, It is cited by Eusebius, Jerome, and 
others ; all of whom had indisputably seen 
manuscripts of considerable antiquity. 
9 



98 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



Third, It is not probable that Josephus, who 
has discussed the events of those times, should 
have passed over one so important, whilst Taci- 
tus and Suetonius, Roman historians, have dis- 
tinctly taken notice of him. 

THE ACTS OF PILATE. 

The ancient Romans were very careful to 
preserve the memory of remarkable events, 
which were called u Acta Senatus," and were 
preserved at Rome. It seems, also, that the 
rulers of provinces did the same. Accordingly, 
Pilate kept memoirs of the Jewish affairs during 
his procuratorship, which were called "Acta 
Pilati." 

Eusebius the historian says that "Pilate, in 
these acts, sent to the emperor an account of 
the miracles, death and resurrection, of Christ ; 
and observed that he was already believed by 
many to be a god." 

Now, long before Eusebius, the primitive 
Chritians appealed, in their disputes, to these 
very acts of Pilate, as a most undoubted testi- 
mony. 

Justin Martyr, in his first apology for Chris- 
tians, presented to the emperor in the year 140, 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



99 



having mentioned the crucifixion of Christ, and 
some of its attendant circumstances, adds, " And 
that these things were so done you may know 
from the 1 acts ' made in the time of Pontius 
Pilate." 

The learned Tertullian, in his apology for 
Christianity (a. d. 200), makes the same appeal 
to the "acta Pilati;" and how would these 
writers have ventured to make these appeals, 
especially to the very persons in whose custody 
these records were, had they not been fully 
Satisfied of their existence and contents % 

THE LATIN HISTORIANS. 

Suetonius, a Roman historian, who flourished 
in the reign of the Emperor Trajan, A. d. 116 ? 
refers to Christ, by saying that " Claudius 
Caesar expelled the Jews from Rome, because 
they raised continual tumults at the instigation 
of Christ." (See Acts 18 : 20, a. d. 52.) 

Tacitus, — to whom some reference has al- 
ready been made, — writing the history of Nero ? 
and speaking of the Christians (a. d. 64), says, 
" The author of that sect was Christus, who, 
in the reign of Tiberius, was punished with 



100 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius 
Pilate." 

Now, Tacitus was cotenrporary with the apos- 
tles, and bears this testimony to the first perse- 
cution of the Christians by Nero. He affirms, 
respecting the great fire at Rome, by which a 
vast portion of the city was destroyed, " That 
Nero charged the crime of setting it on fire to 
the Christians ; and, in order to give a more 
plausible color to the calumny, he put great 
numbers of them to death, in the most cruel 
manner." And he adds, ''But this pestilent 
superstition, though checked for a while, broke 
out afresh, not only in Judea, where the evil 
first originated, but even in the city of Rome." 

Says a writer on the evidences of Christian- 
ity: " The above-cited testimony of Tacitus, 
corroborated as it is by contemporary writers, is 
a very important confirmation of evangelical 
history. In it the historian attests : first, that 
Jesus Christ was put to death as a malefactor, 
by Pontius Pilate, procurator under Tiberius ; 
second, that from Christ the people called 
Christians derived their name and sentiments ; 
third, that this religion had its rise in Judea, 
where it also spread, notwithstanding the igno- 
minious death of its founder ; fourth, that it 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 101 



was propagated from Judea into other parts of 
the world as far as Rome ; and that the profess- 
ors of this religion, in the reign of Nero, were 
reproached and hated, and underwent many and 
grievous sufferings." 

On this passage of Tacitus, Gibbon, though 
an enemy of Christianity, has the following 
remark: " The most sceptical criticism," says 
he, "is obliged to respect the truth of this 
extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this 
celebrated passage of Tacitus. Its truth is con- 
firmed by the diligent and accurate Suetonius ; 
its integrity may be proved by the consent of 
most ancient manuscripts ; by the inimitable 
character of Tacitus; by his reputation, which 
guarded his text from the interpolations of pious 
fraud, and by the purport of his narration." 

Such is the observation of the learned his- 
torian, whose hatred of Christianity has led him 
so often to misrepresent the Christians. 

PLINY 5 S TESTIMONY. 

We come now to a very important witness, 
commonly known by the name of the younger 
Pliny. He was born A. d. 62, and was sent 
to the provinces of Pontus and Bithynia by the 

9* 



102 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



Emperor Trajan, A. d. 106, with proconsular 
power. The persecutions of the Christians, under 
Trajan, had commenced A. D. 100, and in the 
country to which Pliny was sent there were 
prodigious numbers of Christians, against whom, 
by the emperor's edict, Pliny was obliged to use 
all manner of severity. Being, however, a per- 
son of good sense and moderation, he was not 
for proceeding to the extreme rigor of the law, 
until he had represented the case to Trajan, and 
received his commands concerning it. He 
therefore wrote him as follows, and received in 
the same year Trajan's answer : 

The Letter of Pliny. 

Ci Health and happiness to Trajan. It is my 
constant custom, sir, to refer myself to you in 
all matters concerning which I have any doubt. 
I have never been present at any trials of Chris- 
tians, so that I know not well what is the sub- 
ject-matter of punishment or of inquiry, or 
what strictness ought to be used in either. Nor 
have I been a little perplexed to determine 
whether any difference ought to be made upon 
account of age ; or whether the young and 
tender and the full-grown and robust ou^ht to 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



103 



be treated all alike : whether repentance should 
entitle to pardon ; or whether all who have once 
been Christians ought to be punished, though 
they are no longer 




be punished. Concerning all these things I am 
in doubt." Pliny then goes on, in the letter, to 
state the course he had pursued, which was as 
lenient as might be expected from a heathen. 

But he goes on to say : " In a short time, the 
crime spreading itself, — even whilst under per- 
secution, — as is usual in such cases, clivers sorts 
of people came in my way. An information was 



104 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



presented to me, without mentioning the author, 
containing the names of many persons, who, 
upon examination, denied that they were Chris- 
tians, or ever had been so : who repeated after me 
an invocation of the gods, and with wine and 
frankincense made supplication to your image, — 
which for that purpose I had caused to be 
brought and set before them, together with the 
statues of the deities. Moreover they reviled 
the name of Christ ; none of which things, as is 
said, they who are really Christians can by any 
means be compelled to do. These, therefore, I 
thought proper to discharge. 

u They (the informers) affirmed that the whole 
of their fault (that is, Christians' fault) lay in 
this, that they were wont to meet together on a 
stated day before it was light, and sing among 
themselves, alternately, a hymn to Christ as 
God, and bind themselves by an oath not to 
commit any wickedness ; not to be guilty of 
theft, or robbery, or adultery ; never to falsify 
their word, nor to deny a pledge committed to 
them when called upon to return it. When 
these things were performed, it was their custom 
to separate, and then to come together again to 
a meal, which they ate in common, without any 
disorder ; but this they had forborne since the 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



105 



publication of my edict, by which, according to 
your commands, I prohibited assemblies. 

" After receiving this account, I judged it the 
more necessary to examine, and that by torture, 
two maid-servants, which were called ministers. 
But I have discovered nothing beside an evil 
and excessive superstition. 

''Suspending, therefore, all judicial proceed- 
ings, I have recourse to your advice ; for it 
has appeared unto me a matter highly deserving 
consideration, especially on account of the great 
numbers of persons who are in danger of suffer- 
ing, — for many of all ages and every rank, of 
both sexes likewise, are accused, and will be ac- 
cused. Nor has the contagion of this supersti- 
tion seized cities only, but the lesser towns also, 
and the open country." 

Trajarts Reply. 

" Trajan to Pliny wisheth health and happi- 
ness. 

" You have taken the right method, my Pliny, 
in your proceedings with those who have been 
brought before you as Christians ; for it is impos- 
sible to establish any one rule that shall hold 
universally. They are not to be sought for. 
If any are brought before you and are convicted, 



106 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



they ought to be punished. However, he that 
denies his being a Christian, and makes it evi- 
dent in fact, — that is, by supplicating to our 
gods, — though he be suspected to have been so 
formerly, let him be pardoned, upon repentance. 
But in no case of any crime whatever may a 
bill of information be received, without being 
signed by him who presents it ; for that would 
be a dangerous precedent, and unworthy of my 
government." 

Here is a very valuable testimony from hea- 
then princes and persecutors, which Providence 
has transmitted, and which shows, first, that in 
seventy or eighty years Christians had over- 
spread a large part of the Roman empire ; that 
among them were persons of all ages, rank and 
condition, and of both sexes, and that some of 
them were citizens of Rome. 

Second, Pliny's letter is a noble testimony 
to the fortitude of the Christian martyrs ; their 
contempt of life when their principles were in 
question ; and it makes known some very im- 
portant features of their belief and worship ; — as, 
for instance, that they disowned the gods of the 
heathen, and could not be compelled to worship 
them ; that they assembled together on a stated 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



107 



day, which we know, from other sources, to be 
the Lord's day; that when they were assembled 
they worshipped Christ as God, and pledged 
themselves by an oath against all immorality. 

This account of a heathen prince, written in 
the year 109, is highly to the credit of Chris- 
tians, as well as corroborative of the whole New 
Testament history. Who can read it without 
being convinced that the thousands who, for 
Christ's sake, laid down their lives, were fully 
persuaded of the truth of the gospel history ? 

We have thus ascertained, from numerous wit- 
nesses, by direct and v'/zdirect testimony, the 
truth of the gospel narrative. These witnesses 
are of undoubted veracity, including princes and 
philosophers who lived and wrote previous to 
the fourth century, and some of whom lived at 
the very time of the apostles. Many of these 
witnesses wrote for the very purpose of over- 
throwing Christianity. They were its bitter and 
inveterate enemies, and their testimony is there- 
fore above all suspicion. 

And, now, what do they all unite in affirming ? 
Why, from Tacitus and Josephus downwards, 
without a contradicting voice, that the Christian 
religion took its rise in Judea, in the reign of 
Tiberius ; that Christ was its founder ; that he 



108 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



was a holy and wise person ; that he was put to 
death by the Procurator Pontius Pilate ; that, 
according to Josephus, he appeared alive on the 
third day ; that Christians multiplied so rapidly 
that in Trajan's time (a. d. 109) they had 
overspread Asia Minor ; that nothing could be 
alleged against them but their religion; and that 
they worshipped Christ as God and practised 
all the moral virtues, — that thousands of them 
laid down their lives, rather than abjure their 
religion. 

What overwhelming evidence is here to the 
truth and genuineness of the New Testament ! 
If Caesar's commentaries were subjected to as 
severe a scrutiny from cotemporary authors and 
events, would they stand the test, as to all their 
facts and allusions, better than this book ? How 
wonderful that so much collateral testimony 
should exist in favor of the Bible, that it is a 
veritable history, was written by its reputed 
authors, and at the date which it claims ! 

It challenges investigation as to its fidelity in 
all the facts — chronological, political and his- 
torical — to which it alludes ; and hence many 
opponents, finding that, in these respects, there 
was no place to put their lever, nor any spot to 
aim their arrows at, have lifted their battering- 



EXTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



109 



ram against the very citadel itself. But we 
shall by and by attempt to show how strong 
that citadel is ; and that, having stood repeated 
shocks from the time of Celsus until now, it is 
likely to hold out until the final and universal 
triumphs of the Redeemer. 

The enemies of Christianity have found, and 
are still finding, that the more they hunt for 
proofs against the Bible, the more do the proofs 
in its favor thicken upon them. 

West, who wrote so ably on the resurrection, 
began his inquiries as an infidel, with a view of 
disproving it. He came out a strong believer in 
the resurrection. 

The infidel thought he could disprove the Bi- 
ble by geological facts ; when lo ! Baron Cuvier 
— the greatest naturalist, perhaps, in this cen- 
tury — comes out with a chain of geological facts 
corroborative of the Bible. 

The historian Gibbon, in writing the Decline 
and Fall of the Roman Empire, thinks he can 
weaken the historical argument for Christianity ; 
but Tacitus, whom he so much reverences, meets 
him with a clear statment of facts in proof of 
the existence and general features of Christian- 
ity in the time of Nero, and even asserts when 
and where and by whom this religion originated. 
10 



110 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 




The antiquarian finds upon Roman coins a 
proof of the Christian religion ; and the traveller 
sees it in the sculptured trophies in bas-relief 
upon the half-decayed triumphal arches of that 
empire. How overwhelming the evidence ! 
Enough to scatter every doubt, — if, alas ! the 
heart was not proof against conviction. If it did 
not ivish to disbelieve, it could not. 



CHAPTER V. 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 

Conversation with the Sceptic renewed — Miracles among the 
strongest proofs of inspiration — A miracle ; what is it 1 — 
Moral character of the witnesses and workers of miracles — 
Human testimony ; how much force should it have 1 — 
Hume's objections to miracles considered — Dr. Campbell's 
reply — Dr. Dwight on Hume's reasoning — Recapitulation 
— Were miracles asserted and believed to have been 
wrought 1 — Quadratus vindicates the New Testament mir- 
acles — Admissions by the enemies of Christianity : Celsus, 
Porphyry, Herocles and Julian — Examples : the man born 
blind, and the cripple at the gate of the Temple — Proofs 
that the apostles were neither impostors nor imposed upon. 

Sceptic. "Well, now you are coming to 
the point. Even if I admit that the New Tes- 
tament is an authentic book, am I bound to be- 
lieve all that it contains ? How can I believe 
in miracles ? If I were sure that a miracle or 
miracles were wrought by Christ and his apos- 
tles, I would give up all my infidelity at once ; 



112 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



for I hold that a miracle would indeed be 
proof not only of sincerity, but of divine inspir- 
ation." 

Well, let us candidly address ourselves to the 
investigation, and see how much proof there is 
that miracles were wrought. Perhaps, as you 
have been surprised to learn how much can be 
adduced as to the authenticity of the book, you 
may be equally surprised, and I hope convinced, 
when you see what can be presented on the sub- 
jeet of miracles. I thank you for your candor 
in admitting that, if a miracle or miracles can be 
proved, you will henceforth give up your scepti- 
cism, and embrace the truths of the Bible. 

Several important points have been settled, 
which have a direct bearing on what is to follow ; 
namely, that the books of the New Testament 
are the genuine production of the writers whose 
names they bear, and that they were written at 
the time and under the circumstances set forth 
therein. W e have also seen, from cotemporary 
writers, both Jewish and pagan, an endorsement 
of the general facts of the gospel history. 

Now, if the New Testament recorded nothing 
supernatural or mysterious, it would be consid- 
ered a work authenticated by more abundant 
proof than any other ancient document in exist - 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 113 



ence. If it was a matter of mere history, all, 
even infidels, would unite in appreciating it as 
above all price ; nor w T ould they entertain a doubt 
of its entire veracity. 

Well, this is a great point attained; for we are 
thus prepared to examine whether, since all that 
relates to the chronology, geography and history, 
is so correct, the statements, also, which relate 
to the divine character and mission of Jesus, and 
to his death and resurrection, are not equally 
worthy of our confidence ? Their strict veracity 
in all that relates to the times and characters of 
that day is presumptive proof that these writers 
spoke with equal truth in all else which they 
have affirmed. 

If you were to take up a book of travels, and 
find that your author manifested a scrupulous 
regard to truth, even in the allusions which he 
made to unimportant circumstances, and if all 
that he said coincided with the observations of 
other good men who had at the same time trav- 
ersed the same region, you would be very likely 
to credit him, even if he were to relate some 
things very extraordinary and wonderful. 

On what grounds, we ask, are the writers of 
the New Testament to be discredited in their 
testimony to the miracles and wonders which 
10* 



114 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



they record, whilst, in all that relates to the his- 
torical and political affairs of Judea and the 
neighboring countries, they are allowed to speak 
the entire truth ? As it respects these miracles, 
the passage from Josephus confirms the account 
given by the evangelists. Celsus, the enemy of 
Christianity, also admitted the existence of these 
miracles. Other cotemporary writers, who lived 
not in Judea, could give their testimony, of 
course, only to the historical statements and allu- 
sions ; and we may argue fairly, from the admit- 
ted veracity of the New Testament writers on 
all these points, that they must have spoken the 
truth in all respects. 

The apostles assert that they spake by the in- 
spiration of God. Now, they must give us the 
evidence of their being thus inspired. What 
would most effectually convince us? Nothing, 
I apprehend, short of a power or instrumentality 
to do what no mere man could do, — that is, 
work miracles. If, in the open day and in the 
sight of thousands, miracles are wrought, this 
fact, connected with uprightness of character 
and pure moral instruction, is all that could be 
desired to produce a conviction that God spake 
through them. 

There is no way, as we conceive, in which 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 115 



God could more impressively and satisfactorily 
sanction the divine commission of his servants, 
than by endowing them with the power to work 
miracles. This would produce the highest pos- 
sible confidence. It would be far more satisfac- 
tory than if God were to speak in an audible 
voice, and say that such and such individuals 
were inspired to declare his will. 

We aflirm. then, that miracles are among the 
strongest possible proofs in favor of a divine 
commission. 

A MIRACLE : WHAT IS IT 1 

The following definition of a miracle is from a 
distinguished author, and is perhaps as clear as 
any which can be framed : 

u A miracle is an effect or event contrary to 
the established constitution or course of things ; 
or a sensible suspension or controlment of, or 
deviation from, the known laws of nature, 
wrought either by the immediate act, or by the 
assistance, or by the permission of God, and ac- 
companied with a previous notice or declaration 
that it is performed according to the purpose and 
by the power of God, for the proof or evidence 
of some particular doctrine, or in attestation of 



116 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



the authority or divine mission of some particular 
person." 

There are here two distinct points: first, a 
suspension or deviation from the known and 
established order of nature. For instance, the 
production of grain by vegetation is according to 
a law of nature. Were it to fall like rain from 
the clouds, that would be a miracle. Or, it is 
according to nature — so far as our observation 
has gone — that the dead return not to life. 
Were a dead person to become alive, that would 
be miraculous. 

Second, it is essential to a miracle that it be 
accompanied with a previous declaration that it 
is performed according to the purpose and power 
of God, for the proof or evidence of some partic- 
ular doctrine, or in attestation of the authority 
or divine mission of some particular person. 

This intimation, says an author, is necessary, 
that it may not seem to happen in the ordinary 
course of things; and it must be beyond the 
reach of human calculation and power, that it 
may neither appear to be the effect of foresight 
or science, as an eclipse, nor the contrivance of 
human ingenuity and expertness, as the feats of 
jugglers. 

It has been truly remarked that there is no 



MIRACLES PROOF OP INSPIRATION. 117 



force in the objection to miracles founded on 
their supposed incomprehensibleness ; for, ac- 
cording to this rule, we should not credit any 
fact in nature. We put the seed into the 
ground, and it comes up a beautiful flower. But 
this exceeds our comprehension. This, being of 
common occurrence, has ceased to excite our 
wonder. It is, then, rather because a miracle is 
uncommon, than because it is incomprehensible, 
that the objection is advanced. Both the growth 
of the flower and the production of the miracle 
are to be referred to divine power, and both are 
equally incomprehensible. But the one is a 
common occurrence, according to a fixed consti- 
tution of nature ; whilst the other is uncommon, 
and is wrought in contravention of this usual 
course of things. 

It may be supposed, then, that a miracle will 
not be wrought on any trifling occasion, but 
only where the importance of the object would 
seem to call for and justify this deviation from 
the regular course of nature. Such an occasion, 
it must be admitted, is the all-important one of 
setting the seal of divine approbation to His 
revealed will. 



118 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



MORAL CHARACTER OF THE WITNESSES AND 
WORKERS OF MIRACLES. 

When an individual or individuals come before 
the world with the claim of inspiration, we natu- 
rally expect that their characters will be upright, 
their doctrine worthy of God, and their divine 
commission attested by miracles. Under these 
circumstances, it will be impossible to deny their 
claim. 

If a bad man were to profess to work a mira- 
cle, we should have a suspicion at once of some 
deception. If a man were to utter some absurd 
tenets unworthy of the Divine Being, and inju- 
rious in their moral tendency, this also would 
prejudice us against his testimony. We might 
be sure, in these cases, that the Almighty would 
not approve or sanction by miracle the testimony 
of either. God's testimony would be given only 
to good men, and in favor of doctrines worthy 
of Himself and beneficial to man. 

Now, in the New Testament we have the two 
important qualifications, namely, the integrity 
of the witnesses, and the purity of their doc- 
trines and precepts. 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 119 



HUMAN TESTIMONY: HOW-MUCH FORCE SHOULD 
IT HAVE 1 

The ground on which we receive much of our 
knowledge, scientific and historical, is human 
testimony ; and the certainty of this knowledge 
is affected solely by the character and number of 
the witnesses. 

We believe, for instance, that there is such a 
city as Rome, and that it is of very great an- 
tiquity ; that such men once lived as Alexander 
the Great and Julius Caesar ; that they were 
great generals, and achieved numerous victories. 
Not a doubt is entertained on these subjects ; nor 
is any additional testimony needed to make these 
things more certain. 

But, suppose we apply the same rule of belief 
to the facts recorded in the New Testament. In 
all that respects the historical allusions, and the 
character and customs of the people, the evan- 
gelists are received as true and faithful histori- 
ans : but. when thev record the existence of 
miracles, their testimony is by some set aside ; 
and because miracles, as they affirm, being con- 
trary to experience, no testimony is sufficient to 
prove their existence. 

This ground was first taken by the infidel 



120 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



Hume, and has been readily adopted by succeed- 
ing deists. 

hume's objection to miracles considered, 
dr. Campbell's reply. 

In reply to Hume's objection, I cannot do 
better than to give a quotation from the cele- 
brated Dr. Campbell's dissertation on miracles. 

"The evidence," says Dr. C, " arising from 
human testimony, is not solely derived from expe- 
rience ; on the contrary, testimony has a natural 
influence on belief antecedent to experience. The 
early and unlimited assent given to testimony by 
children gradually contracts as they advance in 
life. It is therefore more consonant with truth 
to say that our diffidence in testimony is the 
result of our experience, than that our faith in it 
has this foundation. Besides, the uniformity of 
experience in favor of any fact is not proof 
against its being reversed in a particular instance. 
The evidence arising from the single testimony 
of a man of known veracity will go further to 
establish a belief of its being actually reversed. 
If his testimony be confirmed by a few others of 
the same character for integrity, we cannot with- 
hold our assent to the truth of it. 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 121 



"Noav, though the operations of nature are 
governed by uniform laws, and though we have 
not the testimony of our senses in favor of any 
violation of them, still, if, in particular instances, 
we have the testimony of thousands of our fel- 
low-creatures — and those, too, men of strict 
integrity, swayed by no motives of ambition or 
of interest, and governed by the principles of 
common sense — that they were actually wit- 
nesses of these miracles, the constitution of our 
nature obliges us to believe them. 7 ; 

Dr. Dwight, also, has some striking remarks, 
tending to refute Mr. Hume's position. Mr. 
Hume asserts that the evidence that anything 
exists in any given case is exactly proportioned 
to the number of instances in which it is known 
to have happened before; and he hence infers 
that our experience has, in the number of in- 
stances, furnished such a vast preponderance of 
evidence against the existence of a miracle, that if 
we were even to witness it, we could not ration- 
ally believe it to have existed, until it had taken 
place as many times, and some more, than what 
he calls the contrary event. 

" This reasoning/' says Dr. Dwight, "has a 
grave and specious appearance, but is plainly 
destitute of all solidity. Every man knows, by 
11 



122 



THE SCSPTIO REFUTED. 



his own experience, that the repetition of an 
event contributes nothing to the proof or cer- 
tainty of its existence. The proof of any event 
lies wholly in the testimony of our senses, 
When the event is, as we customarily say, re- 
peated, — that is, when another similar event 
takes place, — our senses in the same manner 
prove to us the existence of this event. But 
the evidence they give us of the second has no 
retrospective influence on the first, as the evi- 
dence given of the first has no influence on the 
second. In each instance, the evidence is com- 
plete, nor can it be affected by anything which 
may precede or succeed it. What is once seen 
and known is as perfectly seen and known as it 
can be, and in the only manner in which it can 
ever be seen and known. 

" If we were to see a man raised from the 
grave, we should know that he was thus raised 
as perfectly as it could be known to us ; nor 
would it make the least difference, in the evidence 
or certainty of this fact, whether thousands or 
none were raised afterwards. 

" No tribunal of justice ever asked the ques- 
tion whether a crime had been twice committed, 
in order to determine with the more certainty 
and better evidence that it had been committed 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 123 



once. No individual ever thought of recurring 
to the testimony of his senses on a former occa- 
sion to strengthen their evidence on a present 
occasion. 

" The man born blind (to apply this scheme 
directly to miracles) could not possibly feel the 
necessity or advantage of inquiring whether he 
had been restored to sight before, in order to de- 
termine that he had received it from the hands 
of Christ, or of asking the question whether he 
saw at any time before , to prove that he saw 
now. 

" What is true of this is equally true of all 
similar cases. Experience, therefore, is capa- 
ble of completely proving the existence of a 
miracle. 

" Should twelve men, 7 ' says this author, 
u known and proved to possess the uniform char- 
acter of unimpeachable veracity, declare to one 
of us independently (no one of them being ac- 
quainted with the fact that any other had made 
the same declaration) that they had seen, in the 
midst of a public assembly, a leper cleansed, 
and the white, loathsome crust of the leprosy 
fall off, and the bloom and vigor of health return, 
at the command of a person publicly believed to 
have wrought hundreds of such miracles, and to 



124 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



be distinguished from all men by unexampled 
wisdom and holiness, every one of us would be- 
lieve the testimony to be true. Especially 
should we receive this testimony, if we saw these 
very men endued with new and wonderful wis- 
dom and holiness, professedly derived from the 
same person, forsaking a religion for which they 
had felt a bigoted attachment, embracing and 
teaching a religion wholly new ; and, in confirm- 
ation of this new religion, professedly taught by 
God himself, working many miracles, forsaking 
all earthly enjoyments, voluntarily undergoing 
all earthly distresses, and finally yielding their 
lives to a violent death. A miracle, therefore, 
can be proved by testimony/' 

These remarks impliedly meet and refute an- 
other objection of Mr. Hume, namely, "that 
there is a daily diminution of credibility in pro- 
portion to the distance from the date of the 
event: ;; that is. as time rolls on, the truth of 
these miracles will become less and less, until 
the foundation of Christianity, like that of a 
building, is weakened and wears out by age. 

But it so happens, in this case, that the longer 
Christianity exists, the more proofs of its divinity 
are found ; and, so far from being less credible, 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 125 



every age augments its hold on the minds of 
men. 

How weak must be a cause which is obliged 
to have recourse to such sophistry ! As if a 
fact, once settled as true by the united testimony 
of credible witnesses, could cease to be a fact 
merely by the lapse of time ! 

Who complains of the decay of evidence in 
relation to the acts of Alexander, Hannibal, 
Pompey or Csesar ? An . historical fact, once 
settled by authentic testimony, is never a sub- 
ject of doubt afterwards. And if it appears that 
the witnesses of the New Testament facts were 
competent and honest men, we are bound to be- 
lieve their testimony, even when they assert the 
existence of miracles. 

RECAPITULATION. 

It may now be proper to glance back and re- 
call some of the points which have been estab- 
lished and elucidated ; as, for instance, the ne- 
cessity and probability of a divine revelation, on 
the ground that, if man has an accountable soul, 
it is not probable that a benevolent Creator would 
provide so generously for the body, and make no 
provision for the soul. Next, the authenticity 
11* 



126 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



and credibility of the New Testament, authenti- 
cated, as to its date and its authors, by even its 
bitterest enemies, who concede all the principal 
facts : then the power of human testimony 
when given under such circumstances as those in 
which the apostles were placed, proving the 
existence of miracles. 

Thus are we prepared to examine some of 
these miracles, and see by the circumstances 
what claim they have on our belief. 

WERE MIRACLES ASSERTED AND BELIEVED TO 
HAVE BEEN WROUGHT 1 

That miracles were extensively believed to 
have been wrought, cannot, by the most incred- 
ulous infidel who is acquainted with history, be 
denied ; for thousands and hundreds of thousands 
gave their testimony, many of whom adhered to 
it amid the fires of martyrdom. 

Qaadratus, one of the most ancient writers 
after the days of the apostles, who wrote his 
apology for the persecuted Christians about 
A. d. 124, says, "That there were persons liv- 
ing even in his time, upon whom miracles had 
been wrought." "Audit is by no means im- 
probable," says a writer, "that some of those 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 127 



who were cured of their infirmities by Jesus 
Christ were preserved by Providence to extreme 
old age, to be living witnesses of his power and 
goodness." 

But what is remarkable is the fact that those 
who wrote against Christianity at this early date 
did not think of denying preternatural works to 
have been wrought by the Saviour and his 
apostles ; for, while the facts were too recent to 
be disputed, Celsus, Porphyry, Herocles, Julian, 
and other equally bitter adversaries, admitted 
their reality, but ascribed them to magic, and 
denied the divine commission of him who per- 
formed them. But this supposition (that is, re- 
ferring them to the power of magic) was wholly 
gratuitous, since the writers alluded to could not 
possibly have had any proof that Jesus wrought 
miracles by the power of magic. 

It only remains for us, then, to take up the 
testimony, and examine it, of those who believed 
the miracles, and see how much weight it ought 
to have upon our convictions. 

When a civil tribunal is sifting evidence, in 
order to ascertain the truth or falsity of an 
alleged fact or series of facts, there are some 
considerations indispensable and always at- 
tended to, 



128 



THE SCEPTIC REPUTED. 



If the alleged fact or facts were said to have 
occurred in a particular neighborhood and at 
some distant previous elate, it would be of prime 
importance to inquire if such facts were believed 
at the time, and have been regularly transmitted 
as matter of history. This would be presump- 
tive proof that, however strange or unaccounta- 
ble the facts were, they really did take place. 

Another point indispensable to be attended to 
is the character of the witnesses. This is 
always a point that must be settled, before it 
can be known what weight to attach to the 
testimony. 

Now, the former point we have shown is clear- 
ly settled. We have the original account of the 
miracles, with all the minute statements as to 
time, place and circumstances. These accounts 
are admitted by those who wrote for and against 
Christianity ; and at a period so early that, if 
they had been spurious, they must immediately 
have been detected. 

Upon the testimony of their own senses, these 
witnesses — the apostles and first Christians — 
have actually declared the existence of miracles 
wrought eighteen hundred years ago, by the 
Saviour and his apostles, in the province of Ju- 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 129 

■ ; ; ; 

dea, under the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate, 

and in the reign of Claudius Caesar. 

If these witnesses told the truth, 'then the 

point is settled by this department of proof, 

namely, miracles^ that Christianity is of divine 

origin. 

There are but three suppositions, in regard to 
their testimony, which can be made; namely, 
either they were imposed on by false appear- 
ances, or they were wilful deceivers, or they 
were actual witnesses of these miracles. 

Were they imposed upon by false appear- 
ances ? This would be consistent with their in- 
tegrity. But how could this be ? The circum- 
stances are against it. We should remember 
that the possibility of deception decreases w r ith 
the number of witnesses. Now, if without 
concert or mutual understanding a great number 
of upright men testify to the same fact, there 
seems to be no possibility of imposition, even 
though the fact may be very unnatural or ex- 
traordinary. But the publicity of those miracles 
to which their testimony is borne is such as to 
preclude the possibility of deception. 

When Mahomet wrought his pretended mira- 
cles, he shut himself up in a cave, and gave his 
followers only his own naked testimony, or that 



130 



TUB SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



of a few friends, who were in the secret ; but did 
not select circumstances like those which called 
forth the * miracles of Christ and his apostles. 
These were wrought in the open day, along the 
highways, and in view of thousands. 

THE MAN BORN BLIND. 

Take, for example, the man that was born 
blind, — a case that seems to have excited great 
interest in the Scribes and Pharisees. This man 
was well known, because, being a beggar, he had 
been for years seen at a particular and most 
public spot, presenting his sightless eyeballs in 
order to move the pity and call forth the charity 
of those who entered into the Temple. 

Is not this a fit subject to test the power of 
miracles ? The defect in him is natural ; he has 
never seen. He is a beggar, always found 
in one place, well known at the most public 
thoroughfare in Jerusalem. Every one who 
passes sees his ghastly eyeballs, and his out- 
stretched hand. His appearance makes an in- 
delible impression. But, all at once, this man 
is seen with his sight restored, — or rather, as 
we should say in this case, imparted. So as- 
tonished are the people, that some said, " Is not 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 131 



this he that sat and begged ? " And others said, 
" He is like him ; but he said, I am he." 
All wish to know how and by whom his eyes 




were opened. So he gives them the simple 
story, that a man named Jesus did so and so, 
and his eyes were opened. 

The news flew over the city, and reached the 
ears of the rulers, who. finding what had been 



132 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



done, and by whom, came together to ascertain 
how it was, and, if possible, to weaken the moral 
force on the public mind which it was calculated 
to produce. 

They look at the restored beggar, and, sure 
enough, it is the very same who sat and begged 
at the Temple-gate. Everybody knows him, 
and the case is beyond all artifice and miscon- 
struction. Still, in hope of finding something 
against the miracle, they commence catechizing 
the man. He tells them the same simple story, 
— that "he was blind, and that Jesus, by a 
touch, healed him." They try the power of re- 
buke and intimidation, declaring that it cannot 
be so, — "that no man can do this thing; 7 ' 
" give God the praise," say they. But the man 
is unmoved, and reasserts, with stronger emphasis, 
that he was born blind ; that he never saw till 
now, and that Jesus opened his eyes. 

One more effort to weaken the force of this 
miracle must be made, or all Jerusalem will go 
after Jesus. So they call the parents, and. put- 
ting on all the authority which those stern, vin- 
dictive Pharisees knew how to assume, com- 
manded the parents to tell them if it be so as 
their son has asserted. But, though trembling 
under apprehensions of being cast out of the 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 133 



synagogue, they are obliged to admit that this 
is their son, and that he was born blind ; but 
how and by whom he now saw they could not 
tell, — or, perhaps, we might in their behalf say, 
they dared not tell. 

Again they appeal to the son, and command 
him to abjure his benefactor — to deny the fact 
that his own joyous vision told him was true ; 
but, even on pain of excommunication, he will 
not deny the miracle; and so they cast him 
out. 

Saint John relates this miracle, and all the 
circumstances, in the ninth chapter of his gospel ; 
and this very Saint John was the teacher and 
friend of Polycarp, who suffered martyrdom in 
the year 106 ; one of whose epistles has come 
down to us, in which there are forty allusions to 
the different books of the New Testament. 
Ignatius also, who suffered martyrdom in A. D. 
116, has quoted from this very book, affirming 
the miracle in question. 

We cite this, out of the many miracles, in 
order to show that there was no room for false 
impressions. For, suppose a man with sightless 
eyeballs — born blind — were to occupy, for a 
series of years, every day, the steps of some 
12 



134 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



public edifice, asking charity of all the passers- 
by ; and, suppose that, all at once, he should be 
found entering that edifice, seeing as plainly as 
others saw, and declaring that a certain person 
had opened his eyes, — we could neither doubt 
the fact nor deny the miracle. 

But, suppose, in addition to the man's testi- 
mony, a hundred men of integrity should come 
forward and say, "Yes, it is true, and we saw it 
done only by a touch," — what room would there 
be left for doubt ? Now, this was the case with 
the beggar in question, only that in his case, as 
all Jerusalem went periodically to the Temple, 
there were a thousand witnesses there where 
there could be one here. 

A singular instance took place in the sudden 
cure of a confirmed cripple, who was laid at the 
gate of the temple called " Beautiful." This 
miracle was wrought by Peter and John, in the 
name and by the power of the Lord Jesus. So 
wonderful an event drew together a great multi- 
tude, all of whom knew the subject on whom 
the miracle had been wrought. He was the 
well-known mendicant whose pitiable condition 
had so often appealed to their sympathies. And 
they were filled with wonder and amazement at 
that which had happened unto him. 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 135 



This event opened the eyes of thousands as to 
the truth of Christianity ; and there was a great 
defection from the Jewish religion, multitudes 
joining themselves to the Christians. Alarmed 
at this, the rulers of the Jews cited the apostles 
to appear before them, and undergo an investi- 
gation as to this miracle. They went, and were 
careful to take the healed man along with them. 
When interrogated, Peter assures them that the 
man was healed by no power of his own (does 
this look like imposture ?) ; but that he was 
healed by the power of God, through faith in a 
risen Saviour. " And, beholding the man that 
was healed standing with them, they could say 
nothing against it." This man they had seen 
a thousand times lying at the temple-gate — a 
poor, helpless cripple : now he is standing with 
the men who had, in Christ's name, healed him. 
What is the result of the investigation ? u Com- 
manding them to go aside from the council, they 
conferred among themselves, saying, What shall 
we do unto these men 1 for that, indeed, a nota- 
ble miracle hath been done by them is manifest 
to all them that dwell at Jerusalem, and toe can- 
riot deny it ; " so all they did or could do, in the 
case, was to threaten the apostles, and command 
them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. 



136 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



" All Jerusalem," by the confession of these 
rulers, knew of this miracle. Luke has stated 
this so near to the time of its occurrence, that, 
if no such cripple had been healed, all Jerusalem 
would have hurled back the falsehood on his 
head, and on the cause which it was his aim to 
establish. 

Now, we ask if in these two notable miracles 
there was any possibility of mistake or false 
impression. Both of these men were public 
beggars, occupying the most public place, so 
that all could see and know them. We natur- 
ally find our attention strongly arrested by such 
specimens of human suffering. How impossible, 
therefore, that there could be any deception or 
mistake in these cases ! 

The supposition, therefore, that the first 
Christians might have been deceived by false 
appearances, must, in view of these very remark- 
able cases^ be given up. 

It is not necessary to multiply examples ; or 
we might speak of the raising of Lazarus, — a 
character well known, much respected and be- 
loved, lying in the grave four days, — and then, 
in view, not merely of the disciples, but of the 
Jews, called back to life. In such an event, 
there is no room for false impressions. But 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 137 



many, if not most of the miracles wrought by- 
Christ and his apostles, were wrought in public, 
under such circumstances as to impress the mind 
with the power of God. 

THE SECOND SUPPOSITION. 

The second supposition, that Christ and his 
apostles were deceivers, finds no footing, if we 
have proved that they who saw the miracles, 
and have transmitted their testimony, could not 
themselves have been deceived by false appear- 
ances. 

It seems that we have a very simple and 
natural history of Jesus Christ, in which, among 
other things, the evangelists affirm that he 
wrought miracles to prove his divine mission. 
Now, we find that, somehow or other, this re- 
markable person succeeded in making hundreds, 
and even thousands, believe in his religion. This 
belief was founded on his doctrines as authenti- 
cated by miracles. Where is the proof that he 
deceived them? Had he been a deceiver, he 
would certainly have taken a very different 
course from the one which he did adopt, as well 
as exhibited a very different doctrine and deport- 
ment. 

12* 



138 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



The Jews expected their Messiah to come in 
regal pomp, and with overwhelming displays of 
temporal power. Had Jesus aimed to deceive 
the people, and pass for that which he was not, 
he would have arranged his advent in view of 
these impressions, and put on the robes of 
earthly state and dignity. He would not have 
been known as one born in a stable, nor have 
dwelt for thirty years in an obscure village. 
But he took a course directly opposite to the 
expectations of his countrymen, and proclaimed 
himself the Messiah by the purity of his doc- 
trine, and the wonderful miracles which he 
wrought. 

The impostor seeks, ordinarily, either wealth 
or grandeur. But look at Jesus, and see how 
his whole course proclaims the very opposite 
motives ! As to wealth, he "had not where to 
lay his head ; " and as to notoriety or fame, it was 
such as crowned him w T ith thorns and nailed him 
to the cross. 

In the impostor there is always a something 
that betrays the wickedness of his character and 
his designs : but in Jesus there is nothing — as 
even infidels admit — but the purest benevo- 
lence, and the most unsullied moral virtue. 
Some infidels have even recommended his exam- 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 139 



pie for moral purity — not reflecting on the 
inconsistency ; for, if he is not divine when he 
claims to be, and if his miracles are only im- 
positions when he asserts they are his Father's 
testimony, then surely he would be as far from 
moral virtue as the most arrogant impostor 
could be. 

There is no middle ground between denying 
his goodness and branding him as an impostor ; 
or admitting his truth and purity, and thereby 
conceding the reality of his miracles. But who 
dares arraign his purity of character? What 
proofs of uprightness and inflexible moral virtue 
have ever been exhibited equal to his ? Not 
one of his enemies could allege aught against 
him. The opponents of Christianity, who wrote 
in the first centuries, can find nothing whereby 
to impugn his virtue. This is truly wonderful ; 
and if any man, with such a character as that of 
Christ before him, can charge imposture on his 
miracles, or assert that Jesus claimed to do 
what he could not and did not do, that man 
must be proof against all testimony, and prefer 
bold assertion to fact and argument. 

Now, the fact that Jesus induced a belief in 
him, as the holy one, among so many of all ages, 
and every condition of life, from a Magdalen 



140 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



to a Nicodemus, proves that he was what he 
professed to be; and the fact that, in a subse- 
quent age, the believers had so multiplied that 
the Roman empire was filled with them, is 
strong proof that there was no imposture, and 
could not have been. 

The apostles also sustained a character for 
self-denial and virtue as nearly like that of their 
Master as human nature exalted by religion 
could sustain. Their bitterest enemies have 
nothing to allege against them but their devotion 
to a new religion. i L They were chargeable, ' ' says 
Pliny, " with no vice,' 7 their only crime being 
that ".they worshipped Christ as God/' and 
would not worship the gods of Rome. There is 
one uniform testimony to their voluntary relin- 
quishment of the world, their cheerful endurance 
of sufferings, and their heroic fortitude in death. 
Nearly all the apostles, for believing in Jesus 
and preaching his resurrection, — a fact which 
most of them had witnessed, — suffered the loss 
of all things, and at last sealed their testimony 
with their blood. 

In the circumstances, then, under which the 
miracles were wrought, it is impossible the wit- 
nesses could have been practised upon by any 
deceptive arts. There is, next, a pledge in the 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 141 



moral virtues of the Author of our religion, that 
no imposition coulcl have been practised. There 
is, moreover, the same pledge in the high char- 
acter for integrity and virtue uniformly sustained 
by the apostles and early Christians ; and, last, 
in the inflexible adherence to their faith, even 
when to maintain it they had to sacrifice prop- 
erty, fame, and even life itself. 

I will close this branch of the subject by an 
illustrative or hypothetical case. 

It has been customary in some ages to extort 
confession by means of torture. Suppose, then, 
you should witness this operation. A man of 
respectable character and well-known virtue is 
brought forward. His inquisitors inform him 
that, if he continues to assert the existence of a 
particular fact, he shall be placed upon the rack, 
and have the screws drawn upon him. But he 
calmly reasserts it. His enemies then put him 
under torture, until his joints are dislocated. 
The agonized sufferer is then asked if he retracts 
his statement; but he firmly answers No. 
Would you not believe that man to be sincere f 
The torture proceeds, and the man actually dies 
in asserting, without the least alteration or mod- 
ification, the same fact. Should not his testi- 
mony be received? Suppose that hundreds 



142 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



should follow his example, and die by torture 
for asserting the same thing, — could there be 
any doubt that these were true witnesses, that 
they testified to what they actually knew, es- 
pecially if they were known to be men of unim- 
peachable integrity ? 

These were the circumstances under which 
thousands suffered and died, bearing a united 
testimony to the divinity, the miracles and the 
resurrection, of Christ. Some of these martyrs 
were learned men, and many of them high in 
earthly dignities and distinctions. Old and 
young, male and female, submitted to ignominy, 
persecution, poverty and death. "What stronger 
proof can be given, or can be asked, for the sin- 
cerity of their belief, and the truth of their testi- 
mony ? 

Sceptic. u All this, I admit, is strong rea- 
soning ; but, still, I would not believe unless I 
saw a miracle wrought myself' 

Perhaps, my friend, you would not even then. 
Many in Christ's day saw the miracle, but denied 
the power of God in it. This they did as per- 
tinaciously after as before the miracle was 
wrought. No ; the mind that cavils, that loves 
its sins, and loves not God, " would not be per- 



MIRACLES PROOF OF INSPIRATION. 143 



suaded, even though it were to see one rise from 
the dead." 

There must be a preparation of heart in order 
to a proper appreciation of moral evidence. This 
is the grand secret ; and when this is obtained, 
objections are very likely to flee away. 



CHAPTER VI. 



PROOF FROM THE FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. 

Prophecy defined — The highest evidence that can be given 
of supernatural visitation — False prophets — Delphic ora- 
cles — - Aristotle's and Cicero's opinion of these oracles — 
Prophecies in the Old Testament — Prophecy concerning 
the posterity of Abraham — Prophecy respecting Ishmael 

— The Bedouins — Prophecy respecting the land of Ca- 
naan — Prophecies relating to Tyre, Nineveh and Babylon 

— Prophecies concerning Christ — Daniel's and Isaiah's 
prophecy — Prophecy respecting the success of the gospel. 

The last species of proof, under the external 
evidences, which we shall adduce in favor of the 
inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, is the fulfil- 
ment of prophecy. 

Prophecy is defined by one writer to be u a 
miracle of knowledge;" and he adds, "it is 
the highest evidence that can be given of super- 
natural communication with the Deity, and of 
the truth of a revelation from God." 

"The man," says he, "who reads a prophecy 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



and perceives the corresponding event, is him- 
self the witness of the miracle. He sees that 
thus it is ; and that thus by human means it 
could not possibly have been. A prophecy yet 
unfulfilled is a miracle yet incomplete; and 
these, if numerous, may be considered as the 
seeds of future conviction, ready to grow up and 
bear their fruit whenever the corresponding facts 
shall be exhibited on the theatre of the world. 
So admirably has this sort of evidence been con- 
trived by the wisdom of God, that, in proportion 
as the lapse of ages might seem to weaken the 
argument from miracles, that very lapse serves* 
only to strengthen the argument derived from the 
completion of prophecy." 

FALSE PROPHETS. 

There have been, in all ages and countries, 
those who pretended to divine and to foretell 
future events. Some of these pretended prophe- 
cies were from motives of gain, and others from 
motives of influence and ambition. Some — as 
among the ancient Greeks and Romans — were 
encouraged from motives of state policy ; but, in 
all, there are palpable marks of imposture so 
plain, that no person can possibly confound the 
13 



146 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



true and the false prophet, or be at a loss to 
distinguish the inspired prophecies from the 
heathen oracles. 

We know, from scripture, that cotemporary 
with the prophets of God there were lying proph- 
ets, who sought influence in this peculiar way, 
and endeavored to impose, not only on the 
people, but on the monarchs of Israel them- 
selves. 

These prophets, however, took care so to shape 
their predictions as to admit of an ambiguous or 
two-fold application. 

DELPHIC ORACLES. 

The same ambiguous character belongs to all 
the famous Delphic oracles, and, in fact, to the 
entire predictions ventured upon by the sooth- 
sayers of Greece and Rome. 

Aristotle observes, with respect to these divi- 
nations, "that pretended prophets express them- 
selves in general language. In a game at odd 
and even, a man may say whether the number 
be odd or even much sooner than what it is, and 
that such a thing will happen than whe?i. 
Therefore, those who deliver oracles never define 
when?' 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



147 



Cicero, likewise, has the following remark: 
"If this be foretold, who is the person meant, 
and what is the time ? The writer conducted 
himself so dexterously that any event whatever 
will suit his prophecy, since there is no specifica- 
tion of men and times." 

Such is the admitted character of heathen 
diviners ; and who will pretend to compare them 
with God's prophets, who spake not only of 
events to come, but who defined the times, per- 
sons, places, and all the minute circumstances, of 
the predicted events ? 

The heathen oracles were pronounced in mys- 
terious secrecy, whilst the prophets of God deliv- 
ered, without solicitation, their prophecies openly 
before the people. 

The events which were foretold were often 
both complicated and remote, depending on the 
arbitrary will of many, and arising from a great 
variety of causes, which concurred to bring them 
to pass. 

PROPHECIES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

In considering the argument from prophecy, 
we must include the Old Testament as well as 
the New, since many of the most striking predic- 



148 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



tions were uttered and fulfilled within the chro- 
nology of that remarkable book, Some of the 
most striking events in the civil history of the 
world have taken place in perfect accordance 
with the predictions of the Old Testament ; and 
facts too palpable to be denied exist, at this 
moment, in verification of these prophecies. 

When we examine these sacred books, among 
other things we find a chain of prophecies, 
uttered from the time of Abraham, — nay, even 
from the origin of our race, — down to the closing 
book of the New Testament. 

Some of these prophecies respect the state of 
the Jews — as the changes in their own civil his- 
tory; others relate to neighboring nations and 
empires : others announce the coming of a Mes- 
siah; and, finally, prophecies delivered by 
Christ and his apostles. 

Many of the events which have taken place 
in exact accordance with these predictions are 
known and acknowledged to have occurred sub- 
sequent to the prophetic announcement, and can- 
not, therefore, be mere histories. 

PROPHECY CONCERNING THE POSTERITY OP 
ABRAHAM. 

The Jews, by common consent, trace their 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



149 



origin to Abraham. How astonishing is it that 
so numerous a people as they once were should 
be descended from one man ! Yet so it is. 
This nation numbered, in less than five hundred 
years from the time of Abraham, six hundred 
thousand men, besides women and children ; and 
this census is abundantly confirmed by the testi- 
mony of profane writers. 

But all this had come to pass in exact accord- 
ance with prophecy. It was told Abraham that 
his seed should be as the stars for number, and 
that, too, at a time when there was no ground 
for hope, humanly speaking, that he would have 
any posterity. 

PROPHECY RESPECTING ISHMAEL. 

There exists at present a predatory people in 
the East, whose habits, and life, and character, 
are very peculiar, and have been such as they 
are, with almost no variation, for many centuries. 
This we know from .profane history, and from 
the concurrent accounts of travellers. They are 
called Arabs. 

Now, as they live about the region where the 
scenes of scripture are laid, it would be natural 
13* 



150 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



to inquire if that book has any allusion to this 
people. 

We find, in the Scriptures, that one branch of 
Abraham's posterity was superseded by another, 
and that the former branch was cast out to give 
place to the latter. The one cast out was named 
Ishmael, and the true heir was named Isaac, 
from whom the Jewish nation came. But what 
became of Ishmael? According to the Scrip- 
tures, he wandered with his mother into the wil- 
derness of Paran, where he became expert in 
archery, and his mother married him to an 
Egyptian woman, by whom he had twelve sons. 
From the twelve sons of Ishmael are derived the 
twelve tribes of the Arabians still subsisting; 
and Jerome says that in his time they called the 
districts of Arabia by the names of their several 
tribes. 

Here is a chain of facts truly astonishing. 
The Arabs who now exist with unanimous consent 
trace their origin to Ishmael and his twelve sons. 
The very names of these sons are still common 
appellations among them. 

But let us look at their history and habits, as 
well as their origin. God said of Ishmael, "I 
will make him a great nation;" and a great 
nation he became when the Saracens made their 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



151 



rapid and extensive conquests during the middle 
ages, and erected one of the largest empires that 
ever was in the world. 

He was also to be " a wild man." u His hand 
was to be against every man, and every man's 
hand against him." And this has ever been 
true of him, and is true of him to this very day. 
Sesostris, Cyrus, Pompey, Trajan, and other 
ancient monarchs, endeavored in vain to subju- 
gate them. They are a wild, independent people, 
to this day. 




" Freedom's fierce, unconquered. child, 
The Bedouin robber, nursling of the wild. 



152 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



With whirlwind speed he guides his vagrant band, 
Fire-eyed, and tawny as their subject sand. 
On foam-bossed steeds impetuous all advance, 
Whirl the broad sabre, couch the quivering lance ; 
Ardent for plunder, emulate the wind, 
Scorn the lone level, leave the world behind ; 
While the dense dust-cloud rears his giant form, 
And, rolled in spires, reveals the threatening storm." 

Says one, " The history of this remarkable 
people, and their manner of life for four thousand 
years, is, of itself, a sufficient argument for the 
divine origin of the Pentateuch." 



PROPHECY RESPECTING THE LAND OF CANAAN. 

It was predicted that the Jews should have 
the land of Canaan for their possession, and that 
for their sins they should be driven out of it for 
a season, but that at last it should be theirs for a 
permanent inheritance. 

Every person familiar with the Jewish history 
knows that, for the most part, this was truly 
verified. For a thousand years they enjoyed the 
land of Canaan. Then, for their wickedness, 
God sent the tribes of Judah and Benjamin into 
captivity. He declared it should be for seventy 
years, which was so. For six hundred years 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



153 



after the restoration they held it, and then again, 
for their wickedness in crucifying the Messiah, 
they were driven out. — and this, too, was pre- 
dicted, — and they continue to this day a vagrant 
and down-trodden people. But as the prophecy 
relating to their return from Babylon was ex- 
actly fulfilled, so will their restoration to this 
long-deserted land be a renewed verification of 
the truth of the prophecies. 

In the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, 
Moses gives a prediction of what God would 
bring upon the nation in case of their disobedi- 
ence, namely, " They should be scattered among 
all people, from one end of the earth unto the 
other. They should find no rest. They should 
be oppressed and crushed always. They should 
be left few in number among the heathen. They 
should pine away in their iniquity in their ene- 
mies' land. They should become an astonish- 
ment, a proverb and a by-word, unto all nations." 

It is only necessary to go to profane history 
to discover the truth of these prophecies. Un- 
der the Chaldeans and Romans a circumstantial 
fulfilment of these threatenings took place. And 
their situation to this day is a literal fulfilment 
of the words of Moses. 

Since the destruction of Jerusalem they have 



154 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



been scattered among all nations ; in the very 
words of sacred prophecy, c 1 they have found no 
ease, nor have the soles of their feet had rest." 
" Their life," especially in the East, " has hung 
in doubt before them ; they have had fear day 
and night, and have had none assurance of their 
life." 

Yet, notwithstanding all their oppressions, 
they have still continued a separate people, 
■without incorporating with the nations, and they 
have become an astonishment and a by-word 
among all the nations whither they have been 
carried. The very name of a Jew has been 
used as a term of peculiar reproach and infamy. 

Finally, it was foretold that their plagues 
should be wonderful and of long continuance. 
And have not their plagues continued more than 
seventeen hundred years ? What nation has 
suffered so much, and yet endured so long? 
What nation has subsisted as a distinct people, 
in their own country, so long as the Jews have 
done in their dispersion into all countries? 
And what a standing miracle is thus exhib- 
ited, to the world, in the fulfilment, at this 
very time, of prophecies delivered more than 
three thousand years ago ! Is not this proof 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



155 



all-sufficient that holy men of God spake as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost ? 

PROPHECIES RESPECTING TYRE, NINEVEH AND 
BABYLON. 

The prophet Ezekiel (chapter 26) pronounces 
a very striking prediction respecting the city 
of Tyre, — one of the most flourishing and opu- 
lent cities then in existence. It runs thus : 
" Therefore, thus saith the Lord God : Behold I 
am against thee, Tyrus, and will cause many 
nations to come up against thee, as the sea caus- 
eth his waves to come up. And they shall de- 
stroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her 
towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, 
and make her like the top of a rock. It shall 
be a place for the spreading of nets, in the 
midst of the sea ; for I have spoken it, saith the 
Lord God; and shall become a spoil to the 
nations." 

The very agent to commence this fearful de- 
struction is named, — Nebuchadnezzar, King of 
Babylon. Now, all history confirms the truth 
of these predictions. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed 
the old city. Alexander the Great employed the 



156 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



ruins in making a causeway from the island on 
which it stood to the continent. 

"It is no wonder j therefore," says a learned* 
traveller, "that there are no remains visible of 
the ancient city." 

After various reverses, it was at last sacked 
and completely razed, in the year 1289, by the 
Mamelukes; so that it is now literally but a 
barren rock, on which the fishermen are seen to 
spread their nets. 

The same prophet (Ezekiel) declared, con- 
cerning Egypt, — one of the most ancient and 
powerful kingdoms in the world, — that God 
would bring it down subject to other nations, and 
cause its pride and its glory to fall. More than 
two thousand years ago was this prophecy ut- 
tered. Not long afterwards, Egypt was success- 
ively attacked and conquered by the Babyloni- 
ans and Persians. Alexander wrested it from 
Persia. Then the Romans took it. After them 
the Saracens and the Mamelukes ; and now it is 
tributary to Turkey. Thus, for so many ages, 
has this once proud empire bowed under a for- 
eign yoke. How exact the fulfilment of the 
divine prediction ! 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 157 



NINEVEH. 

Nineveh was the metropolis of the Assyrian 
Empire ; a city vast in extent, and containing a 
population of more than six hundred thousand. 
Its utter destruction was foretold by the prophets 
Nahum and Zephaniah : and even some of the 
circumstances, such as that " while they were 
overcome with drunkenness their enemies should 
surprise and take them." (Nahum 1 : 10.) 
And history confirms the fact, that the Medeans, 
under the command of Arbaces, being informed 
of the drunkenness that prevailed in their camp, 
assaulted them with success and overcame them : 
and, until recently, even the site of this great 
city could not be ascertained. 

BABYLON. 

Not less striking were the prophecies upon 
Babylon, which not only declared its overthrow, 
and the manner in which and the person by 
whom (namely, Cyrus) it should be accom- 
plished, but adds, in the sublimest strain of pro- 
spective desolation: "The wild beasts of the 
desert shall be there ; and the owls shall dwell 
14 



158 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



therein, and it shall be no more inhabited for- 
ever ; neither shall it be dwelt in from genera- 
tion to generation. As God overthrew Sodom 
and Gomorrah, and the neighboring cities, so 
shall no man dwell therein. Thou shalt be des- 
olate forever, saith the Lord. Babylon shall 
become heaps, — a dwelling-place for dragons, an 
astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabit- 
ant. Babylon shall sink and shall not rise from 
the evil that I will bring upon her. It shall 
never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in 
from generation to generation ; neither shall the 
Arabian pitch his tent there ; neither shall the 
shepherds make their fold there : but wild beasts 
of the desert shall lie there ; and their houses 
shall be full of doleful creatures ; and owls 
shall dwell there : and dragons in their pleasant 
places. 5 * , 

And has Babylon ever been rebuilt ? Has it 
ever been reinhabited ? Do the stately columns 
stand to tell of its former splendor ] Or is it 
all desolation? Says Mr. Rich, an English 
traveller : £i It is as when God overthrew Sodom 
and Gomorrah." He mentions i: perceiving the 
bones of sheep, doubtless brought there and con- 
sumed by wild beasts, many dens of which are 
in various parts. He found quantities of porcu- 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



159 



pine quills, numbers of bats and owls ; and every 
doleful creature seemed to have made these ruins 
their asylum." How true to the prediction is 
all this ! 

The prophet Daniel predicted with such mi- 
nute accuracy the overthrow of Babylon by the 
Persians, and their subjugation by the Grecians 
under Alexander the Great, and the division of 
Alexander's dominion into four parts, and then 
the rise of the Roman power, which swallowed 
up the whole, and became one vast republic, dif- 
ferent from all preceding governments, — he pre- 
dicted all this so exactly as it took place, that 
some infidels have asserted that it must have 
been written subsequent to the events. But 
against this supposition the whole J ewish nation 
are witnesses ; for never was there a book more 
generally known, more widely dispersed, and 
more universally received, than this. 

We have before us, in these prophecies, a 
striking proof that the men who uttered them 
must have been under the divine teachings. 
Who can foretell a future contingent event but 
the omniscient God, or one whom he inspires? 
How could Moses know the state of the Jews, 
their captivity and their dispersion, and their 
actual condition up to this very date, if God had 



160 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



not spoken by him ? And can any man look at 
these living witnesses for the truth (the Jews), 
scattered in every land, as if to hold up to the 
infidel eye a perpetual refutation of his creed, 
and still deny that the prophets were inspired of 
God? 

Go, wander over the ruins of Tyre, Egypt and 
Babylon, and the very desolation will speak of 
God r s unerring word ! 

PROPHECIES CONCERXIXG CHRIST. 

But the great burden of prophecy is yet to be 
considered ; namely, the coming of Christ. 
Every other event is subsidiary to this, every 
ray converges towards this luminous point. 
" To Him give all the prophets witness." Eve- 
ry Jewish sacrifice was a sort of prophecy that 
pointed to Him. u The seed of the woman " 
was first announced by God himself. Every 
sacred writer caught the strain. The prophet's 
eye, whichever way it glanced, never lost sight 
of this all-attractive vision. 

Nor did the prophets proclaim only in general 
terms his coming ; they were explicit as to his 
person, his character, his teachings, his outward 
condition, his sufferings, his death, his triumph 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



161 



over death, his success in subjugating the hearts 
of men. 

The time, also, of his advent, was definitely 
fixed, and the manner in which the nation 
would treat him. Let us glance at some of 
these points. 

" The sceptre shall not depart from Judah till 
Shiloh come." (Gen. 49 : 10.) This prophecy, 
no person doubts, was written ages before the 
event took place. It declares that the Jews 
shall exist as a nation until the coming of the 
Messiah. Now, if their political existence as a 
nation is at an end, then has the Messiah come. 
And has not the sceptre long since been broken? 
When Jesus came and established his spiritual 
kingdom, the tribe of Judah was dispersed, and 
confounded with the other tribes of Israel. 

Daniel points out the precise time when Mes- 
siah was to appear, declaring that he would 
"make an end of sin, make reconciliation for 
iniquity, and bring in an everlasting righteous- 
ness." 

From the time that Artaxerxes gave command 
to rebuild Jerusalem, — - which was accomplished 
by Nehemiah, — he says is four hundred and 
ninety years (seventy weeks of years) ; and ac- 
cording to this prediction Christ came at the end 
14* 



162 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



of the seventy weeks ; or, as Dr. Scott says, 
1 ' In the seventieth week the Messiah was cut 
off, but not for himself." 

Daniel goes on to say : " That the people of 
the prince that shall come shall destroy the city 
and sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with 
a flood/*' 

How the tide of Roman invasion rolled in 
upon Jerusalem, within less than half a cen- 
tury after the death of Christ, is well known, 
and corroborates most strikingly the prophet's 
words. 

It was predicted that Messiah would be born 
in Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah. How won- 
derful that, by an over-ruling Providence, Au- 
gustus, the Roman emperor, should have or- 
dered a general census, by which Joseph and 
Mary were proved to be of the line of David ! 
And Paul says, " It is evident our Lord sprang 
out of Judah." 

ISAIAH'S PROPHECY. 

With what a graphic pen has Isaiah sketched 
the character of Christ ! He predicted he should 
be born of a virgin ; that he should be destitute 
of the external glory which usually recommend- 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



163 



ed a person in the eyes of the nation, — yet in 
the eye of God he was to be " elect, precious, a 
chief corner-stone. ' ; And this corner-stone was 
to become a stone of stumbling and rock of 
offence to the Jews ; that they should fall on 
this rock, and that, in their attempts to over- 
throw it, should be themselves scattered and 
broken to pieces. 

He was to preach the gospel to the poor, to 
give sight to the blind, health to the sick, and 
light to them that sat in darkness. He was to 
be a teacher of the Gentiles. Nations were to 
do him homage, and his reign was to be peace 
and righteousness. 

Such is the portrait of our Lord sketched by 
Isaiah ; and, if he had followed Jesus from the 
manner to the cross, he could not have given us 
a more striking likeness. 

But read his fifty-third chapter, where he 
predicts his sufferings and death ! You would 
think, almost, that he sat at the foot of the 
cross, and, with pen dipped in the blood that 
flowed from it, had portrayed the mournful 
scene of the crucifixion. " He was wounded for 
our transgressions. He is led as a lamb to the 
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is 
dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He made 



164 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



his grave with the wicked and with the rich in 
his death. He was numbered with the trans- 
gressors, bare the sin of many, and made inter- 
cession for the transgressors." 

Who can read this, and compare the meek 
sufferer's conduct and death with it, and not ad- 
mit that Isaiah's lips must have been touched 
with a coal from heaven's altar ? 

It was this fifty-third chapter that smote 
down the infidelity of the Earl of Rochester, and 
led him, with his dying breath, to call upon the 
Lamb of God for salvation. 

PROPHECIES OF CHRIST HIMSELF. 

There were prophecies uttered by Jesus him- 
self and by his apostles, and recorded in the 
New Testament, equally illustrative of inspir- 
ation. 

Christ repeatedly foretold his own death and 
resurrection, and even the circumstances attend- 
ing the former : that 1 1 he must go up to Jerusa- 
lem, and suffer many things of the chief priests 
and elders, and be killed ; that the Jews would 
deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked, and 
scourged, and crucified:" all of which we know 
took place. 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 



165 



He foretold that he should be betrayed by one 
disciple, and deserted by all ; that Peter would 
deny him before the cock crew thrice. He fore- 
told that after his resurrection he would go be- 
fore them into Galilee. 




He predicted the coming of the Holy Spirit, 
jand the effect, — namely, that the apostles should 
work miracles and speak with tongues, — all of 
flrhich came to pass. 



166 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



How accurately he predicted the overthrow of 
Jerusalem by the Romans ! Matthew published 
this prediction but five years after the crucifix- 
ion ; and it was forty years after that event 
that the destruction took place, and under cir- 
cumstances such as our Lord had described. 
The enemy cast a trench about the city, and 
carried on the siege until it was taken ; and the 
Temple was not only destroyed, but, as Jesus 
predicted, its very foundations were overturned 
by Titus, the Roman general ; so that it might 
almost be said, literally, " Not one stone was 
left upon another." 

PROPHECY RESPECTING THE SUCCESS OF THE 
GOSPEL. 

Before his ascension, our Saviour commanded 
his disciples to "go into all the world and 
preach the gospel to every creature.'' He 
promised them his divine presence, and assured 
them of success. Xeed we say how certainly 
that promise was fulfilled ? How, against all 
the opposition of Jews and pagans, did the gos- 
pel go forward, and fill the Roman empire with 
its glorious triumphs ! In less than three hun- 
dred years it took possession of the throne of the 
Caesars. 



PROOF FROM PROPHECY. 167 



Can any person believe that these prophecies 
were conjectural? Can any, in his senses, deny 
their fulfilment ? And were not the men who 
could thus minutely foretell future events in- 
spired of God 1 

Thus to miracles we add the testimony of 
prophecy. What a living monument of God's 
truth are the scattered but degraded Israelites ! 
How does the fierce Arab, with his hand against 
every man, proclaim the same truth ! 

Go, search for Babylon, once the mistress of 
the world ! Read in her desolation, her unde- 
fined site, the fulfilment of prophecy. 

Look at Egypt and Ethiopia ! Look at Jeru- 
salem ! Where is her once splendid Temple ? 
From those desolate regions, and by a thousand 
voices, the Bible demands that its holy and 
divine origin should be by all acknowledged. 



CHAPTER VII. 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 

Testimony of the Scriptures concerning God — Appropriate 
representations of his attributes — His providence and 
moral government — The doctrines — Man's fallen state — 
Man's original uprightness — Faith in the merits of an- 
other — Victory over the world — A future retribution — 
A resurrection of the body — The morality of the Scriptures 
proof of their divinity — Testimony of infidels to the mo- 
rality of the Bible — Voltaire's testimony — Earl of Roch- 
ester's — Rousseau's — Bolingbroke's — The morality of 
the Bible examined — The law of the ten command- 
ments — Precepts of the law — Contrast of the morals of 
Christianity and heathenism — Testimony of a French 
traveller — Testimony of Governor Howal and Sir J. Shane 
— Unity of the Scriptures — Supposed contradictions of 
Scripture — Moral tendency of the Bible — Its influence on 
states and governments ; on literature and the arts — 
Progress of the gospel. 

We are now prepared to open and examine 
the internal marks of inspiration which lie on 
the face of the book thus authenticated by mira- 
cles and by prophecy. 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



169 



In doing this, the nature of its doctrines, the 
purity of its moral teachings, its style, and the 
tendency of its whole tone and spirit on the 
improvement and happiness of mankind, will 
come into view. 

If, in this examination, there should be found 
any doctrine or precept of injurious moral tend- 
ency, we should feel, at once, that, notwith- 
standing all that has been said, there was still 
ground for hesitation. But of this we have no 
fear. 

In reading the Koran, we discover a licentious 
tendency in some of its revelations, an adapta- 
tion to gratify the lower passions of our nature. 
We see also many absurdities. Mahomet talks 
about a cock " crowing so loud as to be heard 
all over creation ; " and of angels whose eyes are 
so far apart as to require several days' journey 
to pass between them ; and many other things 
so foolish that the mind of a child would reject 
them. 

But how different is the whole tenor of the 
Scriptures ! Everything there is serious and 
soul-elevating. Its revelations are worthy of 
God, and exalt his character in the eyes of the 
created universe. 

15 



170 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



TESTIMONY OF THE SCRIPTURES CONCERNING 
GOD. 

In regard to the Scriptures, we are struck with 
one grand idea, namely, that, throughout, they 
keep before the mind their great Author. God 
is the great subject of these revelations. This 
is a sublime thought, and well calculated to 
impress the mind in favor of the inspiration of 
the Bible. 

That the light of reason teaches something on 
this point, we do not deny ; but not enough, — 
not so much as a moral, accountable, and espe- 
cially a sinful being, needs to know. What reason 
teaches respecting his existence, power, wisdom 
and goodness, the holy Scriptures confirm and 
illustrate. But the Bible ascends still higher, 
and reveals his holiness, his justice, and his 
mercy. Where nature leaves us, the Bible 
takes us up; and where reason falters, faith 
spreads her wings, and urges her sublime flight, 
until we are ushered into the invisible world, 
and stand before the presence of Him who in- 
habiteth eternity. 

Now, shall a book which has God for its 
great subject be lightly esteemed, or its claim 
to inspiration be rashly questioned ? 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



171 



But in what light does this book represent 
God? It speaks of him as " the great first 
cause, and last end of all things." It invests 
him with the attribute of eternity. " From 
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." 

He is the great source of all being — the 
fountain of all good ; himself the uncreated and 
eternal good. It thus makes him omnipotent. 
"He speaks, and it is done." He says, "Let 
there be light, and there is light." 

It speaks of him as " the only living and 
true God ;" elevating him thus above all the 
idols and imaginary deities with which the 
heathen world is filled. 

The Scriptures speak of God as infinite in 
wisdom. His mighty mind contrived the uni- 
verse ; foresaw every effect, and arranged every 
law that regulates the natural world. "He is 
over all, and through all, and in all." This 
wisdom is employed in bringing forth results 
which are to astonish contemplating intelligences 
both in earth and in heaven. 

The sacred writers speak of God as holy. He 
cannot look upon sin but with abhorrence. This 
is just such a character as, prior to experience, 
we should suppose God would possess. It would 
fix the seal of reprobation upon any book pro- 



172 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



fessing to be a revelation from God, if it held up 
his character as impure, or as approving impur- 
ity in his creatures. Why, then, shall not the 
opposite effect be produced, and a conviction of 
its divinity be felt, when it represents God as 
the Holy One, who inhabiteth eternity ? 

Impostors would not be apt to make their 
God so opposite to themselves in character; 
and, therefore, the fact that everywhere the 
sacred writers delight to dwell upon the holiness 
of God is proof positive of their own purity 
and uprightness. 

The Scriptures represent God also as merci- 
ful. He is holy, but he is forgiving. Just 
is he to punish the violation of his law ; yet, 
when the sinner shows signs of repentance, he 
is ready to forgive. 

Can any view of the divine character be more 
consistent, more perfect, than this 1 Speaks it 
not of a supernatural influence exerted on the 
minds of the sacred writers ? Does it look in 
the least like imposture ? 

The sacred Scriptures speak of the providence 
of God as extending over all the affairs of this 
world ; and refer every event, however small, to 
his invisible hand. Is not this in consonance 
with truth and reason ? Who can survey this 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



173 



complex scene — these perpetual changes, and 
yet this undisturbed routine — without acknowl- 
edging an overruling Providence ? 

The Scriptures make Jehovah a Moral Gov- 
ernor. They declare that all accountable beings 
are bound to obey him. The rule of right and 
wrong they make known ; and they plainly de- 
clare that the great Governor of the Universe 
will call ail to a final account, when they must 
answer for the deeds done in the body. 

Such are some of the views which the Book 
of books sets forth respecting the character of 
God. Are these views for or against its 
claims to divinity ? 

But the Sceptic, I see, wishes here to put in 
a word. Let us hear what he has to say. 

Sceptic. 1 4 I was going to say that it seems 
very strange to me, and not a little derogatory 
to the Divine Being, to speak of him as you do, 
and yet to represent him as having hands, and 
eyes, and feet, and actuated, as it were, by the 
passions of men.' 7 

At first view, this does seem a little strange ; 
and yet, how else could God speak to men, who 
themselves are men of sense and feeling ? Is 
there any other conceivable way in which our 
Creator could impress our souls but through 
15* 



174 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



our associations with sensible objects, thus ap- 
pealing to our eyes, ears, and affections ? This 
mode of address, taken in connection with the 
exalted character of God, just alluded to, im- 
presses the mind the more deeply with his 
wisdom and goodness. 

Sceptic. " But another thing which I cannot 
understand, and at which my reason revolts. 
You represent God as the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost, — three persons and yet one 
God. How can we accept this? " 

Our aim is first to show that the Bible is from 
God. If that be settled, then all its revelations 
are to be accepted, whether we can comprehend 
them or not. If this doctrine of the trinity be 
found in the Bible, it is the part of faith to ac- 
cept it. It will not do for worms of the dust to 
array their reason against God's revelations. 
How could we expect to comprehend God, or, 
by searching, to find out the mode of his 
existence ? 



THE DOCTRINES. 

What are the doctrines which the Bible re- 
veals for human belief ? Are they such as to 
prove the book inspired ? The answer to this 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



175 



question will convince any candid mind that 
the Scriptures have powerful claims upon our 
belief. 

Maris Fallen State. 

One of the great facts or doctrines of the Bi- 
ble is, that man is a fallen and guilty creat- 
ure. This doctrine, we know, is not relished 
by the self-righteous heart. It is far from being 
agreeable to man's personal vanity and selfish 
hopes of future happiness. But why this revul- 
sion at the doctrine of human guilt ? Is it be- 
cause the doctrine has no foundation in fact ? 
Is the actual state of mankind such as to give it 
the lie ? Does the child unfold its moral powers 
with angel sweetness, showing no opposition to 
the parental commands, or to the restraints of 
virtue? Does the youth choose the path of 
piety, and naturally find his happiness in serv- 
ing God ? Do men seek the divine glory, — hate 
sin, and practise holiness? I need only ask 
these questions. 

Why, then, are men opposed to the doctrine 
of native moral corruption ? Surely not because 
it is a false doctrine. No ; but because it is 
not false, but fearfully true. 

Now, we ask if impostors, who sought influ- 



176 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



ence and popularity, would place first on the 
list of their tenets, and urge as fundamental, a 
belief of so repugnant a doctrine ? Is it to be 
supposed they would represent man as ' 1 dead in 
trespasses and sins " ? Would they be likely to 
say that "the heart was deceitful above ail 
things, and desperately wicked '* 1 

Yet this doctrine accords with facts, as devel- 
oped in the temper and conduct of mankind. 
The whole history of our race sets the seal to 
it, and every human conscience gives it its 
sanction. 

Marts Original Uprightness. 

But, along with this doctrine of our apostate 
state, the sacred writers declare our original 
uprightness. — that man was once in favor with 
God, and that there are the remnant indications 
still in us of this once happy state. How true 
is this to nature ! Man is forever reaching 
after a felicity which seems to elude his grasp. 
There are the strivings of conscience, thoughts 
of a future retribution, combined with the 
mournful impressions of departed purity. 

Can we deny to a book which explains and 
illustrates these feelings and impressions so 
plainly the claim of inspiration ? 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



177 



Duty of Repentance. 

Grounded on this doctrine is another, which 
the Bible presents ; namely, the duty of repent- 
ance, by confessing and forsaking our sins. 
This is also a very prominent truth in the Holy 
Scriptures. 

If man is a wanderer from God, it is his duty 
to return to him. If he has offended him, by 
transgressing his laws, it is his duty to confess 
the same, and to ask the divine forgiveness. If 
moral obligation exist at all, so much as this 
must be admitted. 

True to nature and to facts, the Bible comes 
to man as a transgressor, and says " repent." 
" Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un- 
righteous man his thoughts, and let him return 
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon 
him ; and to our God, for he will abundantly 
pardon. 7 ' 

Here, then, is another evidence that the writ- 
ers of this book must have been divinely in- 
spired. Had they sought reputation and earthly 
glory, they would have taken an opposite course; 
and, like the false prophet, promised their dis- 
ciples indulgence, rather than self-mortification 
and personal humiliation. 



178 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



Faith in a Crucified Saviour. 

Another doctrine prominent in this revelation 
is, that God accepts the sinner only on the 
condition of faith in a Saviour who died for 
sin, or was made a sin-offering. 

From the time that Abel sacrificed a lamb, as 
the proof that his faith rested on sacrificial 
blood, until now, every sinner who expects on 
solid grounds the favor of God must and does 
exercise faith in a crucified Saviour. 

This is a very peculiar and striking doctrine, 
■which pervades the Scriptures, and which all 
men are bound to believe and act upon, if ever 
they be restored to the divine favor. 1 1 Behold 
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of 
the world." " There is none other name given 
under heaven, amongst men, whereby we must 
be saved, but the name of Jesus." u Other 
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
which is Jesus Christ." 

This doctrine places man in the dust as a 
sinner, and obliges him to look for deliverance 
and salvation to another, " able and willing to 
save," — a doctrine as humbling to the proud 
heart as any which can be conceived. 

Yet this doctrine is the prominent and pecu- 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



179 



liar doctrine of Christianity. " I determined," 
says Paul, "to know nothing among you, save 
Jesus Christ and him crucified." " God forbid 
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 

We need not show how the doctrine of a me- 
diator accords with the actual state of the sinner 
as a transgressor under God's government ; nor 
how it suits our poor, sin -disabled nature, which 
sighs for help whilst lying in the horrible pit 
and the miry clay. We have only to ask the 
objector if men w T ho aimed at any object but the 
glory of God would be likely to frame a doc- 
trine so calculated to meet with opposition from 
both Jews and Gentiles. 

The Jews hated it, because they were resolved 
to go to heaven in their own fancied right ; and 
the Greeks counted it only foolishness. Every- 
where men said, " Away with it." This they 
said until they saw their guilt as sinners, and 
then the doctrine was welcomed, and the cry 
was, " Lord, save me or I perish." 

Yet is this doctrine " the wisdom of God." 
" To all who believe it is the power of God unto 
salvation." 

Who, but inspired men, would have gone forth 
and proclaimed, in face of all the prejudices of 



180 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



the Jews, belief in a crucified Saviour as the 
only condition of mercy and salvation ? 

Victory over the World. 

One of the duties insisted upon, in connection 
with faith in Christ, is a separation of the heart 
from the world. To be Christ's disciples, we 
must forsake in heart the pleasures of the world; 
that is, they must be held in less esteem than his 
service. 

Now, it is natural to man to love the world ; 
nay, to make it his chief pursuit. Its gains and 
its pleasures are considered the chief good. In 
what religion, but the religion of Christ, are men 
required to forsake earth in order to gain heaven? 
Yet reason teaches us that this is not absurd. 
If there is beyond the present life a scene of 
spiritual existence, where the soul must find its 
happiness in loving and serving God, it seems 
natural that some sort of preparation for such 
enjoyment should be made ; that we should be- 
gin to relax our hold of these all-enslaving 
pleasures, in order to be qualified for a partici- 
pation in those bright spiritual scenes. If the 
soul has never unclasped its affections from 
earthly vanities, nor known of better things, how 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 181 



can it possibly be prepared for the pure joys of 

hep yen? 

Hence, we see the propriety of Christ's com- 
mand, to forsake and overcome the world. But 
what a doctrine for impostors to teach ! How 
strange that they should give us a religion re- 
quiring us to give up sensual pleasures, to cru- 
cify the flesh, to bear meekly the scorn and con- 
tempt of the world, and to look for our treasure 
and our reward in heaven ! Strange doctrine 
this for impostors to teach ! 

Future Retribution. 

The Bible reveals a state of rewards and pun- 
ishments in a future world. It declares that 
God will hold men accountable for "the deeds 
done in the body." 

How does this feature of the Christian system 
strike the mind ? Can we reasonably deny that 
in the experience of the human soul there is a 
foundation for such a doctrine ? Does not the 
idea of accountability enter into all the relations 
of society? Is it not recognized from the 
nursery to the highest civil tribunal '? 

But when we touch the point of man's respons- 
ibility to God, we hear from sinful man a re- 
bellious murmur. But will not the idea of 
16 



182 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



accountability be acknowledged when we stand 
at the judgment-seat of Christ? 

How clearly does this doctrine, which gleams 
on every page of the Bible, attest its inspira- 
tion ! It is true to the voice within us, which 
sounds in premonitory notes our flight to the 
judgment ! 

A Resurrection. 

The Scriptures declare that there will be " a 
resurrection both of the just and of the unjust ; " 
that "all who are in their graves shall come 
forth," at the last great day; and that then the 
fates of all will be pronounced and fixed forever. 

Where, but in the Christian religion, is a 
resurrection foretold? Yet is it in beautiful 
accordance with the analogy of nature. 

Shall the flower drop its seed in the earth, and 
reproduce another form of fragrant beauty? 
Shall spring awaken in fresh glories from a 
wintry desolation ? Shall the vapors flow off 
towards heaven, and form themselves into clouds 
of gilded radiance ? — And shall this body of 
finest mould and most curious workmanship go 
back to dust and be no more ? No, says the 
voice of Scripture; it shall arise "a spiritual 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



183 



body ; " and according to what a man has sowed 
here, that will he reap hereafter. 

Such is the character of God which the Bible 
reveals, and such are some of its prominent doc- 
trines; bearing, as we think, the stamp of 
heaven's own signature. There is about them a 
sublimity, and purity, and fearful import, which 
no reader can mistake for mere human produc- 
tions. They as certainly show the mind of the 
Deity as does the thunder-cloud his majestic 
footsteps. Speak of these doctrines as the in- 
vention of low-born fishermen ! The supposition 
is absurd. 

Place these sublime revelations by the side of 
any productions penned by uninspired man, and 
it is like lifting up a taper towards the light of 
the sun. An artificial tree or flower may be 
formed to look, from a distance, something like 
a real one. But come near, and the delusion 
vanishes. The fine, soft touch of nature is not 
there. God's works bear his own peculiar sig- 
nature ; and this book as certainly evinces its 
heavenly origin as the verdure of earth or the 
lights of the firmament. 



184 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



THE MORALITY OF THE SCRIPTURES PROVES 
THEIR DIVINE ORIGIN. 

If a book, purporting to be a record sent from 
God, should inculcate precepts at variance with, 
the social happiness of man, or in any way tol- 
erant of vice, it might be at once pronounced an 
imposture ; for the only idea we can form of 
God is associated with moral purity. Now, the 
Bible, as we shall see, is not wanting in this 
essential impress of its divinity. 

TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS TO THE MORALITY OF 
THE BIBLE. 

By the testimony of infidels themselves, we 
might show that this book inculcates the purest 
morality ; their objections against it being, 
principally, its claim to be a divine revelation. 

Voltaire 1 s Testimony. 

" Wherever society is established, there it is 
necessary to have a religion ; for religion, which 
watches over the crimes that are secret, is, in 
fact, the only law which a man carries about 
with him ; the only one which places the punish- 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



185 



ment at the side of guilt, and which operates as 
forcibly in solitude and darkness as in the broad 
and open face of day." 

Would the reader have thought it ? These 
are the words of Voltaire. And how applicable 
are they to the religion of the Bible ! 

Earl of Rochester's Testimony. 

The Earl of Rochester laid the objections to 
the Bible where they ought to be laid. Said he, 
laying his hand on the Bible, " There is true 
philosophy. This is the wisdom that speaks to 
the heart. A bad life is the only grand objec- 
tion to this book." 

" Rousseau" 

Rousseau's acknowledgments are to this effect. 
f I will confess to you, further, that the majesty 
of the Scripture strikes me with admiration, as 
the purity of the gospel has its influence on my 
heart ! ! Peruse the works of our philosophers, 
with all their , pomp of diction ; how mean, how 
contemptible, are they, compared with the Scrip- 
tures ! The Jewish authors were incapable of 
the diction, and strangers to the morality, con- 
tained in the gospels ; the marks of whose truths 
are so striking and invincible, that the inventor 
16* 



186 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



would be a more astonishing character than the 
hero." 

To the inquiry how the infidel Rousseau could 
honestly make such concessions, we answer, be- 
cause his conscience approved what his evil 
heart opposed. His judgment was convinced of 
the excellency of Christianity, but his ungov- 
ernable passions could not brook its restraints. 
Pride and passion are the secret springs of 
infidelity. 

■ 

Bolingbroke. 

In Bolingbroke' s writings may be found such 
sentences as the following : 

" Supposing Christianity to have been a human 
invention, it has been the most amiable invention 
that was ever imposed on mankind for their 
good. Christianity, as it came out from the 
hand of God, if I may use the expression, was a 
most simple and intelligible rule of belief, wor- 
ship and manners, which is the true notion of a 
religion. The gospel is, in all cases, one con- 
tinued lesson of the strictest morality" 

But mark the inconsistency of these writers ! 
How could impostors invent a system of morality 
the purest and most practical in the world ? All 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



187 



these precepts are put forth, not as their own 
original conceptions, but as coming directly from 
Jehovah. How can we reconcile these two 
things, namely, that men should inculcate the 
highest standard of morality, including strict 
veracity, and yet, in doing it, be themselves, all 
the while, deceivers and impostors % 

THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE EXAMINED. 

Let us now take a glance at the morality of 
that book which even infidels have been obliged 
in this respect to commend. 

The first decisive act of immorality, after the 
melancholy account of the fall, is truly a fright- 
ful one. It is nothing less than the horrible 
crime of murder and fratricide. God is repre- 
sented as coming forth against the murderer, 
branding him with the mark of vengeance, and 
exiling him from the privileges of religion. 

As wickedness increased, and the power of 
human lust broke over all restraint, the Al- 
mighty again came forth to vindicate his law, 
and a whole generation were swallowed up by 
the flood. A similar retribution fell upon the 
licentious cities of the plain. 

Nor did God spare his own servants, when 



188 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



guilty of immorality. Noah was humbled in 
sight of his own children, and Lot was cursed in 
his descendants to the latest generation. 

THE LAW OF THE TEX COMMANDMENTS. 

At length, and with a view to set forth dis- 
tinctly the obligations of moral purity, and give 
motive and sanction to virtue, God enacted a law 
which embraced the whole duty of man, and 
enjoined it under the sanction of most fearful 
penalties. 

This code of morality, contained in the ten 
commandments, expresses the will of God in 
relation to our duties, first, to God himself, and, 
secondly, to our neighbor. 

Dr. Paley has well remarked, that " the 
morality revealed in the Scriptures is not an 
original invention, but a declaration from God of 
obligations existing always and from the nature 
of the case. It is giving definite ideas of moral 
duty, together with motives and sanctions to 
influence to its performance." 

First Precept of the Law. 

The first precept of the moral law enjoins 
supreme love to God. It is levelled against 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



189 



idolatry, a most debasing and immoral system of 
belief and worship. 

This duty of loving God supremely depends 
not simply on the fact that it is commanded, but 
results from the nature of the case, from the 
relation of a dependent, accountable creature to 
God, the Creator. 

The sin of making gold, or honor, or sensual 
love, a divinity, results not simply from the fact 
that God has forbidden it ; but is in itself 
wrong, and would be if the commandments were 
unknown to us. 

The design of a revelation is not to make that 
wrong which before was innocent, but to give 
motive and sanction to the eternal principles of 
right, to declare definitely what is and what 
always must be wrong, and to show what is 
and what always must be right. And hence 
the law of nature, or conscience, and the law of 
God, when the mind is properly enlightened, 
speak the same language. 

Now, we argue that a book which goes thus 
to the foundations of moral rectitude, and sets 
forth what is right and w T hat is wrong in the rela- 
tions of Creator and creature, sanctioning and 
sustaining the verdict of conscience, cannot be a 
production of impostors or of enthusiasts. 



190 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



The Third Commandment. 

In the third commandment, the Almighty 
guards his own name and attributes from irrev- 
erence, declaring that He will "not hold him 
guiltless that taketh his name in vain." 

How necessary such a precept was, may be 
seen from the almost universal propensity in man 
to desecrate the name of God. Even where His 
law is recognized, and where the institutions of 
religion are operative, the horrible practice is 
indulged. 

It is manifest that, were this vice to become 
general, religion w T ould be extinct. The first act 
of religion is reverence. 

Comparing the morality of the Scriptures, in 
this respect, with the tolerated customs of the 
most cultivated heathen, we see the superiority 
of the former. 

As to profaneness, it was never considered a 
vice at all. To swear "by the immortal gods ;? 
was equally the practice of the most respectable 
as well as the most worthless. " We may find 
in the heathen philosophers," says a w r riter, 
"customary swearing commended, if not by 
their precepts, yet by the examples of their best 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 191 



moralists, — Plato, Socrates, Seneca, and the 
Emperor Julian, — in whose works numerous 
oaths occur." 

Frequent and shocking as the practice of pro- 
fane swearing is in Christian countries, it is by 
no means general, and the edict of Jehovah 
against it has exerted a powerfully restraining 
influence on the lawless tongue. 

The Arabs scarcely utter a sentence without 
an accompanying oath; and all the heathen, 
ancient and modern, are greatly addicted to the 
practice. 

" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord 
thy God in vain/' is a precept which implies a 
high regard for the honor of Jehovah, and does 
not savor of imposture or artifice in him who 
indited it. 

The Fourth Commandment. 

The observance of the Sabbath, in which the 
special duties of religion are to be performed, is 
another safeguard to general morality which this 
divine law furnishes. 

It were impossible fully to estimate the value 
of this day and its services on the moral habits 
of society. Where it is treated with contempt, 
or turned into a day of riot, every vice prevails 



192 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



to a most fearful extent. It is this day which 
lifts the soul of man above the grovelling earth, 
and obliges him to think of his duty and his des- 
tiny. It arrays before the mind the obligations 
of virtue and piety, and enforces them by the 
awful sanctions of a future retribution. Do all 
these sanctifying influences look like the work 
of enthusiasts or impostors ? 

The Fifth Commandment. 

The fifth commandment respects the reverence 
and obedience due from the child to its parent, 
and from the young towards the aged. 

And here we think that even the objector to 
revelation must concede the fitness and beauty 
of this precept of the decalogue. The feeling 
of respect and the principle of subordination to 
the will of a parent is a natural duty of the 
child. The existence of society and government 
is intimately connected with its discharge. 
Where this duty is violated, the parent is obliged 
to exact its performance. But when the child 
becomes the patron and the parent dependent, 
what then is to secure respect on the part of 
the offspring ? 

In heathen countries, the children, feeling the 
aged parents to be a burden, endeavor to get rid 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



193 



of them. When old and infirm, they carry them 
into some desert place and leave them to die. 
And in Christian countries, where the commands 
of God are not regarded, there is at times great 
cruelty secretly practised towards them. 

Now, God has guarded against this ; and his 
law requires that the reverence which was ren- 
dered in childhood shall be continued in adult 
years. 

How wise and gracious a provision ! We all 
know that the attachment of parents to children 
is stronger than that of children to parents. 
There was no need of a law to insure the love of 
a mother towards her child. Nature is law 
enough here. But the selfish, reckless heart of 
youth is taught that God will adjudge him guilty 
for any act of disobedience or disrespect towards 
his parent. " Honor thy father and mother " 
is the commandment. 

The Sixth Commandment. 

There is ever a tendency in man to take sum- 
mary vengeance on an enemy. Cupidity, also, 
and sometimes revenge, prompts to the dreadful 
deed of blood. Suicide has also been resorted to, 
— and by heathen writers even recommended, — 
in order to put an end to present sufferings. 
17 



194 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



Against all this, and in direct opposition to it, 
stands the sixth commandment of the decalogue. 
By this precept, human life is held inviolate, 
except where the Almighty, for judicial reasons, 
empowers the magistrate to take it away. 

No man now may take his own life, or that 
of his neighbor. " Thou shalt not kill " is the 
solemn prohibition, which guards the life of man 
from violence and death. Nay, by the strict 
interpretation of this precept, whosoever hateth 
his brother is a murderer. A prohibition so 
merciful and defensive shows the divine source 
whence it must have emanated. 

The Seventh Commandment. 

The next precept of the decalogue is levelled 
against unbridled lust. It guards and keeps 
pure the fountains of domestic love. It is the 
grand conservative statute in favor of marriage, 
and is thus promotive of civilization and social 
happiness. Sunder the marriage tie, destroy 
the confidence between husband and wife, and 
the felicities of social life would receive a death- 
blow. They actually did under the reign of 
atheism in France, where such a scene of de- 
bauchery ensued as would have disgraced the 
land of Sodom and Gomorrah. 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



195 



On this subject the practices of the Greeks 
and Romans were truly disgusting. Some of 
their writers maintained the lawfulness of adul- 
tery ; and crimes the most beastly and unnatural 
— too horrible to speak of — were quite frequent 
among them. 

This is the great and sweeping yice of all 
pagan communities. Their temples and shrines 
are but the polluted haunts of debauchery ; arid 
even their religion demands this wholesale pros- 
titution, by which all that is noble in man or 
woman is defiled and destroyed. 

Now, shall we repudiate a book, or question 
the diyine origin of a law, which opens its artil- 
lery against this polluting vice? which de- 
mands that the passions shall be confined within 
limits which Heaven has prescribed? which 
looks at the foundations of domestic happiness, 
and provides for the security of chastity, and for 
the proper training of our offspring ? Shall infi- 
dels question the inspiration of men who teach 
that u marriage is honorable in all, but that 
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge " ? 
who plead for the domestic circle, and all the 
endearments of home? who brand the licen- 
tious as violators of God's law, and declare that 
only the pure in heart shall see God ? 



196 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



Surely there is internal evidence here that a 
book inculcating such moral purity could have 
come from none but a divine source ! 

The Eighth Commandment. 

The next precept of the decalogue secures the 
right of property, and holds him guilty who 
shall dare to invade it, u Thou shalt not steal.'' 

Some infidel writers — Voltaire among the rest 
— were accustomed to laud the practices of the 
Greeks and Romans, with a view, if possible, to 
depreciate, by comparison, the Christian system. 
But, to say nothing of their gross licentiousness, 
were they not guilty of the mean and degrading 
vice of theft ? 

Plutarch bestows great praises on the customs 
of the Lacedemonians : yet the same writer 
acknowledges that theft was encouraged in their 
children, in order to sharpen their wits, and to 
train them up in all sorts of cunning, watchful- 
ness and circumspection, whereby they were 
more apt to serve well in their wars. Hence, 
as might be expected, and as Herodotus observes, 
"their actions were generally contrary to their 
words, and there was no dependence upon them 
in any matter." 

Who is there so ignorant as not to perceive 



INTEBNAL EVIDENCES. 



197 



the superiority of Christian morals ? And who 
but must discover that the right of obtaining 
and holding personal property, together with a 
security by law for such property, is that which 
distinguishes a flourishing and orderly common- 
wealth from a mere savage horde, where he who 
is strongest takes all ? 

The Ninth Commandment. 

Strict veracity is next enjoined, and the false 
witness is branded as guilty. Truth is one of 
the noblest attributes of virtue. The liar and 
deceiver are names given to the great apostate 
angel, the enemy of God and man. Where 
truth is not, there can be no certainty, no virtue. 
Truth presides even over the arcana of nature. 
She sits upon the very throne of the universe. 
She pervades all mind and matter. She is the 
bond of friendship, the pledge of honorable 
intercourse, the safeguard of law, the incen- 
tive to study, and the great reward of in- 
tellectual exertion. She gives basis to hope, 
substance to faith, and reality to expectation. 
To complete the eulogy, she came from heaven 
robed in visible glory, the distinct personifica- 
tion of the Deity, and spoke to us in the life 3 
ministry and death, of the Son of God. 
17* 



198 



THE SCEPTIC BEFUTED. 



Such is truth ! Such is she as exhibited in 
the Bible ! Between man and man it is en- 
joined that nothing be spoken contrary to the 
truth. Is this the precept of an impostor ? Can 
the sacred writer perpetrate a forgery, tell a 
holy lie (pardon the paradox!), speak in the 
name of God, and warn against falsehood, — can 
he do this, and yet be himself the most impious, 
heaven-defying liar in the universe? Why, 
even " the father of lies " himself, it seems to 
me, could not be guilty of this ! 

What a contrast does the Bible present to the 
outrageous impositions of the Arabian impostor ! 
How powerful has been its influence to secure 
the sacred bond of confidence in social and com- 
mercial life ! 

Look, in contrast, at pagan nations ! Montes- 
quieu says, "The Chinese are the most void of 
common honesty of any people upon earth ; and 
even the laws permit them to cheat and de- 
fraud." 

Lord Anson, in his Voyages, observes : " That 
lying, cheating and stealing, abound among 
them ; and that, if you detect them in fraud, 
they calmly plead the custom of the country." 

An intelligent French traveller, speaking of 
the Hindoos, says : " The Brahmins keep these 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



199 



people in their errors and superstitions; and 
scruple not to commit tricks and villanies so 
infamous, that I could never have believed them, 
if I had not made ample inquiry into them." 

Governor Howel thus characterizes them: 
a A race of people who, from their infancy, are 
utter strangers to the idea of common faith and 
honesty." 

Sir John Shane, Governor-general of Bengal, 
speaking of the same people, says: "A man 
must be long acquainted with them before he 
can believe them capable of that bare-faced 
falsehood and deliberate deception which they 
daily practise." 

What a state of society must that be where 
• lying is thus prevalent ! Have we nothing to 
: thank the Bible for, in this respect ? Can its 
; enemies deny to it an influence all-important in 
; promoting veracity, and thus binding together 
j the social fabric ? Will any man who believes 
the Bible be other than an honest man ? With 
\ this precept before him, can he falsify either by 
ij word or act ? 

It is in vain to reply that there are men 
professing Christianity who have been guilty of 
deception, and men who are infidels who have 
been true to their word. All we say, in answer, 



200 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



is, that the infidel, in this case, has obeyed the 
Bible, and the professor has become the infidel. 
After all, our business is with the Book, and 
with its holy precepts. Convict that Book, if 
you can, of deception. We are not answerable 
for hypocrisy. All true believers are honest 
men. They hate a lie, and they love the truth ; 
and the Scriptures recognize such, and such 
only, as genuine disciples. 

The Last Commandment. 

In the closing precept of the decalogue, God 
lays his prohibitory mandate on the very princi- 
ple of wrong in the heart, — " Thou shalt not 
covet; ,; and thus is the axe laid at the root of 
all evil. Not only may we not do wrong, but, 
according to this precept, may not even desire 
wrong. How holy and how just is this pre- 
cept ! 

In closing this brief view of scriptural moral- 
ity, we may fairly put the question, Can a book 
thus characterized be less than divine ? Can a 
book which puts God upon the throne, to be 
supremely loved and obeyed; — which forbids 
irreverence and profaneness ; which hallows for 
purposes of devotion one day in seven ; which 
commands filial reverence and obedience ; which 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



201 



guards human life from violence ; which throws 
up intrenchments against human lust, securing 
inviolate the marriage vow ; which protects the 
right of property, and enjoins veracity and hon- 
esty in all the forms of human intercourse; 

i which restricts even the thought of evil ; — can 
such a book, we ask, be the work of deceivers ? 

I Can it be less than inspired ? 

UNITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

There is a strong internal mark of inspiration 
in the unity of the sacred writings. 

We find, upon examination, that the Bible 
was written at different times, and by different 
individuals. Some of it is historical, some devo- 
tional, some doctrinal, and some preceptive. The 
writers were of different grades. Some were 
priests, some kings, and some plain, unlettered 
men. The style in which sacred truth is clothed 
is so peculiar that it is easily distinguishable 
from apocryphal writings of the same date, and 
yet there is also considerable diversity in it. 
Yet, amid all this, a divine unity reigns through- 
out. Has the Bible ever been charged justly 
with any important discrepancy ? Does one of 
the sacred writers represent the character of God 



202 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 

in a particular light, and another contradict 
him ? Does one teach a doctrine which another 
condemns ? Does one teach a truth which an- 
other denies ? Does one represent a fact -as 
having occurred, and another make an opposite 
statement ? 

Investigate closely the whole boob, in its con- 
nections, and you will find it characterized by 
unity and consistency. A thorough examina- 
tion will convince the most prejudiced that, in 
all important matters, there is entire unity. 
Though written by so many different individuals, 
in different ages of the world ; embracing so 
much history ; inculcating so many doctrines 
and precepts ; though relating to various cus- 
toms, and to various countries ; though embrac- 
ing a long chain of chronological events, and 

CD O D " 

much geographical allusion, — amid all this vari- 
ety, the sacred Scriptures exhibit an astonishing 
unity and consistency. 

The trifling variations in narration, sometimes 
alleged against the New Testament writers, 
only go to prove that there was no combination 
or previous concert among them. 

Some speak of circumstances which others 
have omitted ; but all agree in the leading facts 
and features of Christianity. In all that is 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



203 



essential they perfectly agree. Thus are they 
shown to be honest, faithful witnesses of the 
truth. 

SUPPOSED CONTRADICTIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 

Even where there is a seeming contradiction 
in some small particulars, it will be found, upon 
a candid investigation, that the point is very un- 
important, or may be explained, according to the 
principles of true and fair interpretation of one 
part by another. 

"Wherever," says a writer, " one text of 
scripture seems to contradict another, we should, 
by a serious consideration of them, endeavor to 
discover their harmony; for the only way to 
judge rightly of particular passages in any book 
is to consider its whole design, method and style, 
and not to criticize some particular parts of it, 
without bestowing any attention upon the rest." 
" This equitable principle should be applied to 
the investigation of scripture difficulties. Some 
passages are indeed explained by the Scriptures 
themselves, which serve as a key to the elucida- 
tion of others. Thus, in one place it is said that 
1 Jesus baptized,' and in another it is stated 
that 6 He baptized not.' The former passage 



204 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



is explained to be intended not of baptism per- 
formed by himself, but by his disciples, who 
baptized in his name. Compare John 3 : 22 
with 4 : 1, 2." 

" A narrative is not to be rejected by reason 
of some diversity of circumstances with which it 
is related ; for the character of human testimony 
is substantial truth under circumstantial va- 
riety, whereas a close agreement induces sus- 
picion of confederacy and fraud. Important 
variations are not always deemed sufficient to 
shake the credibility of a fact ; and, if this cir- 
cumstance be allowed to operate in favor of pro- 
fane historians, it ought at least to be admitted 
with equal weight in reference to the sacred 
writers." 

Says Bishop Home, speaking of the disingen- 
uousness of infidels in bringing forward objec- 
tions to the Scriptures: "Pertness and igno- 
rance may ask a question, in three lines, which 
it will cost learning and ingenuity thirty pages 
to answer. When this is done, the same ques- 
tion shall be triumphantly asked again the next 
year, as if nothing had ever been written on the 
subject. And as people in general, for one rea- 
son or other, like short objections better than 
long answers, in this mode of disputation (if 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



205 



it can be styled such) the odds must ever be 
against us, and we must be content with those 
for our friends who have honesty and erudition, 
candor and patience, to study both sides of the 
question." 

MORAL TENDENCY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

No man can say that the tendency of divine 
truth is bad. Even infidels have recommended 
the Bible as useful to society, and salutary in 
its effects on civil institutions. The quotations 
already made from their writings go to show 
this. 

BENEVOLENCE OF THE GOSPEL. 

" While the gospel," says one of its defenders, 
" prescribes the best rules for promoting family 
peace and domestic happiness, it has also re- 
moved the great obstacles which have often im- 
peded it. The condition of the inferior and de- 
pendent ranks of society has been ameliorated, 
and every varied form of human misery finds 
some alleviation from the active diligence of pri- 
vate benevolence, and the munificent provisions 
of public charity. The heathen had no public 
18 



206 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



places for the accommodation of the sick, the 
poor, the widow or the orphan ; nor was there a 
single hospital in the "whole heathen world: 
whereas every Christian country abounds with 
charitable institutions for these humane purposes. 

u The flow of beneficence proceeding from this 
divine source has scarcely left any means un- 
tried for meliorating the sufferings of the poor. 
It has extended itself to the abodes of guilt and 
crime, and has attempted to put within the reach 
of the prisoner all the comforts that are compat- 
ible with the strict claims of justice; and it has 
even reached the inferior animals, by procuring 
for them gentle treatment, and constituting them 
objects of legal protection. In vain may we 
search, in the writings of pagan moralists, for 
exhortations to benevolence like this." 

ITS INFLUENCE OX STATES AND GOVERNMENTS. 

i: From society generally, let us ascend to the 
influence of Christianity on the religion and 
government of states and countries. 

" Wherever the gospel has spread, we have 
the most satisfactory evidence of its mighty effi- 
cacy as a means of improving the present condi- 
tion of man. Polytheism and idolatry, together 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 207 




with human sacrifices and all their attendant 
cruelties and profligate immoralities, have been 
abolished. And as soon as nations and govern- 
ments became Christian, they were actuated by 
that mild, benevolent and generous spirit, which 
the early believers had displayed even in the 
midst of calumny, insult and persecution. Those 
princes who embraced Christianity became more 
humble than their heathen predecessors, blended 
Christianity with their civil institutes, and trans- 



208 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



mitted into their political codes the humanity 
and benevolence inspired by their religion. 
Fewer kings were murdered and fewer revolu- 
tions took place in Christian than in pagan 
states. It is the power of the gospel alone that 
has greatly reformed the laws of nations, and 
has diminished the horrors of war. That it has 
not hitherto been sufficient to banish unjust wars 
from the earth, is true ; and, as an acute writer 
has forcibly remarked, £ It would have been 
wonderful if it had, seeing it has never yet been 
cordially embraced by the majority, nor, per- 
haps, by the preponderating part of any nation, 
Nevertheless, it has had its influence, and that 
influence has been of the most beneficial kind 
for the happiness of man.' " 



EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY ON LITERATURE AND 
THE ARTS. 

" But the blessings conferred by Christianity 
on the world are not confined to ameliorating 
the moral, civil, religious and political condition 
of mankind ; the most polished nations now in 
existence are indebted to it for the preservation 
and diffusion of literature, and the elegant arts 
of painting, statuary, architecture and music. 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 



209 



Christianity has been instrumental in preserving 
and disseminating moral, classical and theologi- 
cal knowledge in every nation where it has been 
established." 

" On the subversion of the Greek empire, by 
the Mahometans, in 1453, literature took refuge 
in the west of Europe, where many of the clergy 
were among its most strenuous supporters. At 
length learning emerged from the silence of the 
cloister, and her appearance w T as followed by a 
revival of all the blessings w T hich she so eminent- 
ly bestows. The Reformation promoted still 
more the cause of learning, and its general dif- 
fusion has been aided most signally by the dis- 
covery of the art of printing. The modern op- 
posers of revelation, however, reasoning in a 
retrograde motion, ascribe all our improvements 
to philosophy. But it was religion, the reli- 
gion of Christ, that took the lead. The Re- 
formers opened to us the Scriptures, and broke 
all those fetters that shackled human reason. 
Philosophy crept humbly in her train, profited 
by her labors and sufferings, and now ungrate- 
fully claims all the honor and praise to herself. 
Luther, Melancthon and Cranmer, preceded 
Lord Bacon, Boyle, Newton and Locke. 7 ' 

It is thus to Christianity, directly or indirectly, 
18* 



210 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



we owe all that distinguishes us in mind and 
morals from the almost senseless tribes of be- 
sotted heathen. And will any say, after all, 
that the Bible is the work of impostors ? Can 
we look with any other feelings but those of ab- 
horrence upon efforts to weaken its authority or 
to lessen its influence ? 

When we take into view the subjects upon 
which this book treats, the unity and consistency 
of the whole, the sublimity and purity of its 
doctrines and its language, the lives and martyr- 
dom of its writers, can we deny to it a divine 
origin ? 

Though we have presented but a portion of 
the evidence which has been collected on this 
subject, have we not shown you enough to fix 
in your minds a permanent belief that the Scrip- 
tures are of high and sacred origin? Though 
no audible voice is heard, yet does not its silent 
eloquence speak to the heart? Who can trace 
the life of Jesus, so sublimely pure, — who can 
listen to his instructions, especially his sermon 
on the mount, and his tender, touching parables, 
— who can witness his death, so mysterious, yet 
so glorious, fulfilling as it did the voice of proph- 
ecy, — and not feel, in his deepest soul, that 
the Bible is a true and inspired record ? 



INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 211 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

Look, also, at the astonishing progress of this 
gospel! It is a standing miracle, that books 
containing an unvarnished chain of facts, written 
for the most part by men of obscure name and 
lowly circumstances, should have exerted such 
an influence, for eighteen centuries, over states 
and empires ! A book written by such men has 
displaced or superseded the proud volumes of 
Plato, Pythagoras and Seneca. It has had more 
sway in rousing and improving the human intel- 
lect than all the books of mere human composi- 
tion in the world. 

These sacred volumes have overturned the 
foundations of empires, have shaken down the 
thrones of despots, have founded and reared the 
temple of liberty. They have subjected the 
loftiest minds to their control. They have root- 
ed out, or effectually curbed, the most malignant 
passions. Assailed by every artifice which hu- 
man or infernal malice could suggest, they have 
outlived these attacks, and are now rising in in- 
fluence, multiplying their copies by millions, and 
pouring their heavenly light through every lan- 
guage upon every dark land. 



212 THE SCEPTIC KEFUTED. 



Does not such a book bear the pure signature 
of Heaven? By -whomsoever written, through 
what medium soever it may have flowed, it has 
upon it the stamp of God's eternal truth. There 
is no book like it. There is nothing that ap- 
proaches to a likeness of it. There is a myste- 
rious grandeur in its very existence. It speaks 
in human language, but it gives not human sen- 
timents. It is full of light on subjects the most 
momentous. What a responsibility to be within 
the influence of such a book ! When we read it 
we should be reverent. If it tell us of a dread- 
ful doom that awaits the ungodly, if it speak to 
our consciences in tones of prophetic warning, 
we should give heed as to the voice of God. It 
is the only book which can guide us safely 
through this world by its counsels, and after- 
ward conduct us to glory. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

The Canon — Its meaning — The true books ascertained by 
internal marks — Clearly distinguishable from apocryphal — 
Historical proof abundant so far back as the second century 
— Ancient manuscripts — Scripture versus science — A 
late form of scepticism — Objections considered — Unity of 
the race — God's omnipotence in connection with miracles a 
sufficient answer to scientific objections — Plenary inspira- 
tion — Conclusion. 

Having thus presented, in a very condensed 
form, the evidences for the inspiration of the 
holy Scriptures, both external and internal, 
we might here rest our cause, in the hope that 
all candid minds "will be established in the truth 
and divine origin of our religion, But there 
are some questions which an inquisitive mind 
would be likely to ask still, in reference to the 
Scriptures ; and some aspects of infidelity as 



214 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



now developed, which require from us some 
further remarks. 

THE CANON. 

One of these questions respects the canon, — 
a word which is used to signify that the books 
received by us as sacred are the very ones which 
were so received by the first Christians. 

"How do we know." says the Sceptic, " that 
all these books have a just claim to inspiration ? " 

We answer, first, there are in all of them, we 
think, internal marks that they are inspired. 
Read one of these books, and then read an 
apocryphal one, and you will be struck with the 
difference. 

Second, we have historical proof, coming down 
to us in a regular chain, of their authenticity, 
and of their being the very ones regarded by the 
first Christians as inspired. 

The Romanists have included in the canon 
the books commonly called apocryphal ; but they 
were not included by the first Christians, nor 
are they now by the rest of Christendom consid- 
ered genuine. 

But, in regard to the books of the New Testa- 
ment, even the Romanists coincide with Protest- 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 215 



ants in accepting, as well authenticated, the 
whole of the New Testament. 

These books do not depend merely on the de- 
crees of councils for their genuineness. They 
are authenticated by such evidence as is thought 
sufficient in the case of any other ancient writ- 
ings. 

" They were extensively diffused and read in 
every Christian society ; they were valued and 
preserved with care by the first Christians ; they 
were cited by Christian writers of the second, 
third and fourth centuries. — as Irenaeus, Clem- 
i ent, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, &c. ; and 
their genuineness is proved by those who were 
contemporary with the apostles themselves. 

" The four gospels, and most of the other 
books of the New Testament, were collected 
either by one of the apostles, or some of their 
disciples and successors, before the end of the 
first century. The catalogue of canonical books 
furnished by the more ancient Christian writers, 
' as Origen about A. D. 210, Eusebius and Athan- 
asius in 315, and many others, agree with that 
which is now received among Christians. ?? 

Third, we have quite a number of very an- 
cient manuscripts, reaching in their date almost 
back to primitive Christianity, which may be 



216 THE SCEPTIC REPUTED. 

referred to as containing the books which are 
now considered canonical. Putting all these 
proofs together, we think there can scarcely be a 
doubt remaining that the books now received as 
genuine are so; and that they should be so 
received by all. 

SCRIPTURE VERSUS SCIENCE. 

Another query, often suggested at the present 
day, is, or rather respects, the apparent contra- 
riety between the Bible and the teachings of 
philosophy or natural science. 

One form which this scepticism assumes is 
in relation to some of the miracles recorded in 
both the Old and New Testaments. In my re- 
marks under the head of miracles, I aimed to 
meet this difficulty ; for, if the definition there 
given of a miracle be correct, there is nothing 
either absurd or unreasonable in the fact that, for 
a great moral consideration, the laws of na- 
ture by Him who imposed them may, for a sea- 
son, be suspended or reversed. 

Certainly God could make the sun appear to 
stand still ; he could detain the light, apparent- 
ly, or even really ; and, being omnipotent, could 
prevent any disaster which might, according to 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 217 



scientific calculations, attend such an arrest of 
the order of the universe. What has science to 
say, when Omnipotence is concerned ? 

So in regard to many other miracles, which 
were wrought in contravention of physical laws : 
it is this very fact, which makes them miracu- 
lous, and which alone gives them value as attest- 
ing the inspiration of God's word. You can't 
believe this and that, because it is contradicted 
by science ? Is that the ground to take, when 
nothing but miracles can authenticate a divine 
commission? How can it ever be ascertained 
that God has given a revelation, unless he shall 
thus set his seal to it 1 On this ground, you 
must deny the possibility of an authentic reve- 
lation. 

The grand question to be considered is, Are 
the proofs clear and convincing that such mira- 
cles by God's power were wrought? Read the 
evidences adduced in this book, and then deny 
the fact if you can ! 

It is easy for scientific men to insinuate their 
objections, and for German scholars to find in 
the miracles only some oriental legend, or myth, 
or allegory ; but the simple narration of scripture 
declaring these miracles cannot be thus easily 
set aside. 

19 



218 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 

Similar objections have been made in regard 
to some other points : as, for example, the unity 
of the human race, all descending, as the Scrip- 
tures declare, from one pair, all involved in the 
sin of that first Adam, and to be redeemed and 
saved by the intervention of the second Adam, 
"the Lord from heaven" — a great truth, lying 
at the foundation of the system of redemption. 

It is easy to get up a popular objection to this 
idea of the unity of the race, from the diver- 
sity of appearance and complexion in the differ- 
ent tribes of men; and it sounds very plausible, 
to institute analogies between animals and men, 
and even between men and vegetables, to talk 
learnedly about development and classification, 
and thus indirectly aim to discredit the word of 
God. 

But science owes too much to the Bible to 
undertake to weaken its influence over the pub- 
lic mind and conscience. By such an attempt 
she is committing direct suicide. With an au- 
thentic, Heaven-inspired Bible she rose; and 
when she proves it a forgery, if that were pos- 
sible, she inflicts on herself her own death- wound. 

The young mind cannot be too well guarded, 
in these days of scientific lectures and books of 
science, — falsely so called, — wherein insinua- 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 



219 



tions are at times thrown out, as to the credibility 
of some of the scriptural statements, or endeav- 
oring to explain them so as to do away all their 
force, and discredit the whole book in which they 
are recorded. 

Having once settled the point that this book 
is from God, let nothing weaken the force of that 
conviction; but to all objections founded on 
human reasoning, or apparent deductions of sci- 
ence, oppose this grand idea : God has inspired 
this book, and God is omnipotent. He can write 
things above my reason in its present reach ; and 
he can, for great moral considerations, reverse or 
suspend the laws of nature which he has himself 
imposed. 

PLENARY INSPIRATION. 

Some believe the Bible as a whole, — think it 
inspired for the most part, consider it as of sacred 
obligation as to most things which it reveals, — 
but they have much to say in the way of excep- 
tions. There are mixed up with its revelations, as 
they think, many orientalisms and exaggerations, 
and many things were the result of Jewish ideas 
and prejudices, and other things grew out of the 
superstitions of the times, or of the prevailing 



220 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



philosophy, &c. Now, such latitudinarianism as 
this goes far to overturn the entire fabric of 
Bible truth, and prepares the way for open and 
rank infidelity. 

One will except to one thing, and another to 
another, and soon there will be no Bible left. 
This crevasse began to be opened about thirty 
years ago in New England, and now the stream 
of infidelity is rushing and roaring with an im- 
petuosity which threatens to sweep away the 
very churches which originated it. A half- 
inspired Bible is all that infidelity asks; and 
especially when it is left to every man to say 
what part he thinks inspired, and what part not 
inspired. This is all infidelity asks ; and, with 
this conceded, she will scatter forever what little 
faith is left in God's word, even by those who 
still call themselves Christians. 

Let us, then, hold fast to our Bibles as in- 
spired, believing that, if things are contained 
therein which we cannot see the bearings of, or 
which may be above our comprehension, yet that 
there may be a reason in the divine mind for 
their insertion, and that what we know not now 
we shall know hereafter, when "we shall see 
face to face, and when we shall know as we are 
known." 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 221 



INFIDELS CONVERTED BY THE SCRIPTURES. 

There are some remarkable instances of the 
conversion of sceptics by the Bible itself, when 
reading it with a view to its refutation. Such, 
it is said, was the case with Lord Lyttleton, 
whose Life of St. Paul has been given as the 
result of his faith in a book the truth of which 
he had doubted, if not rejected, but which, 
upon a careful perusal, he found to be the wis- 
dom and the power of God. Among other 
things, this nobleman was led particularly to 
examine the life, character, and conversion of 
St. Paul ; and the conclusion forced upon him 
by such investigation was not only that this 
eminent Jew was converted to Christianity, but 
that the circumstances of his conversion, and his 
subsequent career, gave proof indisputable that 
the religion of Christ was entitled to the claim 
of a divinely-inspired system. 

In a letter to Gilbert West, Esq., he says : 
" In a late conversation we had together upon 
the subject of the Christian religion, I told you 
that, besides all the proofs of it which may be 
drawn from the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment, from the necessary connection it has with 
19* 



222 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 

the whole system of the Jewish religion, from 
the miracles of Christ, and from the evidence 
given of his resurrection by all the other apos- 
tles, I thought the conversion and the apostle- 
ship of St. Paul alone, duly considered, was of 
itself a demonstration sufficient to prove Chris- 
tianity to be a divine revelation." And, in the 
conclusion of his observations on the life of St. 
Paul, he says, referring to the difficulties which 
a sceptical mind encounters in the Bible : " The 
only part, therefore, that can be taken is to 
account, in the best manner that our weak 
reason is able to do, for such seeming objections ; 
and, where that fails, to acknowledge its weak- 
ness, and acquiesce under the certainty that our 
very imperfect knowledge or judgment cannot 
be the measure of the divine wisdom, or the 
universal standard of truth. So, likewise, it is 
with respect to the Christian religion. Some 
difficulties occur in that revelation which human 
reason can hardly clear ; but, as the truth of it 
stands upon evidence so strong and convincing 
that it cannot be denied without much greater 
difficulties than those which attend the belief of 
it, as I have before endeavored to prove, we 
ought not to reject it upon such objections, 
however mortifying they may be to our pride. 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 



223 



That, indeed, would have all things made plain 
to us ; but God has thought proper to propor- 
tion our knowledge to our wants ; not to our 
pride." 

Gilbert West, Esq. 

At the time that West and Lyttleton lived 
and wrote, about a hundred years ago, infidelity 
was the order of the day, especially among a 
certain class of educated and influential minds. 
The Scriptures, if alluded to, were spoken of 
with contempt. But West, who had imbibed 
the prevalent notions, — or, rather, who had more 
doubts than belief in regard to the Christian 
religion, — having read certain treatises impugn- 
ing the veracity of the apostles in regard to the 
resurrection of Christ, determined to take up 
this one department of the Christian faith, and 
examine it for himself. This he did as an accu- 
rate lawyer would do in any serious and import- 
ant case which might be submitted to him. His 
account of the matter is as follows: " The fol- 
lowing observations >" he modestly remarks, 
"took their rise from a pamphlet entitled c The 
Resurrection of Jesus Considered, in answer to 
the Trial of the Witnesses, by a Moral Philoso- 
pher ; ? the author of which, in order to overturn 



224 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



the testimony of the evangelists, has attempted 
to show that they contradict each other in the 
accounts they have given of the fact. To this 
pamphlet there came out two learned and inge- 
nious answers ; but I must confess that I was 
not so fully satisfied with their manner of clear- 
ing the sacred writers from the contradictions 
charged upon them. This set me upon reading 
and examining with attention the Scriptures 
themselves ; and, with no other bias than what 
arose from the astonishment I w^as under, at 
finding writers who, for above these sixteen 
hundred years, have been reputed holy and 
inspired, charged with such a contrariety hi their 
accounts as ill agree with either of those epi- 
thets. Of the truth of this charge, therefore, I 
acknowledge I had great difficulty to persuade 
myself. And, indeed, it was not long before I 
discovered, as I imagined, the vanity and weak- 
ness of such an imputation ; which, however, I 
cannot style altogether groundless, since it has 
an appearance of being founded in the words of 
the gospel, though in reality that foundation 
lies no deeper than the outside and surface of 
the words. Neither 'will I call it malicious, 
since, having, upon further inquiry, found it to 
be of a very ancient date, I know not the first 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 225 



authors of it, and consequently can form no 
judgment of their intentions. What I have to 
offer in defence of the evangelists is built, in 
like manner, upon the sacred text, whose true 
meaning I have endeavored to investigate and 
prove, by comparing their several accounts with 
each other, and noting the agreement and dis- 
agreement of the circumstances. 

" But, although the clearing the sacred writers 
from the imputation of contradicting each other 
was the principal, and, indeed, sole object I had 
in view ; yet, having in the pursuit of this 
object perceived the light breaking in upon me 
still more and more the further I advanced, and 
discovering to me, almost at every step, some 
new circumstances which tended to illustrate 
and confirm the testimony given by these in- 
spired historians to the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ, I was induced by these discoveries to 
go very far beyond my first design, into a con- 
sideration of the evidences of this great and 
important article ; — not those only recorded in 
the sacred writings, but others arising from 
subsequent events and facts, of which we have, 
by several ways, many clear and unquestionable 
proofs. 

"The method in which I have proceeded in 



226 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



this consideration is as follows : I have begun 
■with laying down the order in which the several 
incidents related by the evangelists appear to 
have happened ; and, in the next place, I have 
made some observations upon the method and 
manner in which the proofs of this astonishing 
event were laid before the apostles, who were 
appointed to bear witness of it to all the world. 
And to these I have, in the third place, added 
an exact and rigorous examination of the proofs 
themselves ; from all which I have endeavored 
to show that the resurrection of Christ was 
most fairly and fully proved to the apostles and 
disciples, those first converts and preachers of 
Christianity." 

" From this account of the rise, progress, and 
design of these observations, the reader will 
perceive that they were first begun with the 
view of obtaining satisfaction for myself upon 
some difficulties in the evangelical history of the 
resurrection ; and that they are now published 
with the hopes of their being as useful to others 
as they have been to me. This is the chief, if 
not the sole end that a layman can reasonably 
propose to himself in publishing anything upon 
a subject of this nature ; for I am not ignorant 
how little reputation is to be gained by writing 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 227 



on the side of Christianity, which by many peo- 
ple is regarded as a superstitious fable, not worth 
the thoughts of a wise man, and considered by 
more as a mere political scheme, calculated to 
serve the power and interest of the clergy only. 
How absolutely groundless both these opinions 
are, will easily appear to any one who will take 
the pains to examine fairly and impartially the 
proofs and doctrines of the Christian religion : 
proofs established upon facts, the surest founda- 
tions of evidence, and doctrines derived from 
inspiration from the great Author of reason and 
Father of all mankind. Whoever hath either 
neglected or refused to make this examination 
can have no right to pass his judgment upon 
Christianity, and should, methinks, for the same 
reason, be somewhat cautious of censuring those 
who acknowledge it to be of divine institution ; 
especially as he will find in the list of Christians 
the great and venerable names of Bacon, Milton, 
Boyle, Locke, and Newton, — names to whose 
authority everything should submit but truth ; 
to whom they themselves thought it not beneath 
their superior talents to submit, though she 
required them to believe in Christ." 



228 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



Another Instance. 

Travelling at the South, in the year 1826, I 
was pained to find infidelity prevalent among 
leading and respectable men. The Bible was re- 
garded by many as a book fit only for the weak 
and the credulous, whilst the works of infidels 
were in high repute. Still, as a clergyman, I 
was received with respect, and entertained with 
a generous hospitality, even by those who denied 
the faith that was dear to me. Occasionally, 
however, it was my pleasure to meet with one 
who had relinquished his dark creed, and had 
cordially embraced the truth as it is in Jesus. 
The history of such conversions interested me 
greatly, as illustrating the grace of God, and as 
confirming the truth of the Scriptures. An 
instance of this kind came under my personal 
observation, which I will describe. 

Dr. B., a highly influential citizen of the 
State of Georgia, had long professed himself a 
disbeliever in the Bible as a divine revelation. 
In fact, he had never allowed a copy of the 
Scriptures to come into his family. It was a 
book which he habitually derided, considering it 
as a mere collection of fables, got up by priestly 
artifice for sinister purposes. As might be ex- 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 229 



pected, Dr. B.'s moral conduct corresponded 
with his infidel notions, — that is, it was loose in 
the extreme. His was emphatically an irreli- 
gious household. The children were entirely 
without religious culture, and were, of course, 
destitute of all the restraints and amenities 
which Christianity furnishes where her moral 
teachings are admitted. For, say what they 
will, infidels are obliged often to confess that 
our religion has an effect to purify and sweeten 
the sources of domestic bliss. But, in this 
family, religion was a word never named but 
with a sneer, and its professors were never 
alluded to but for the sake of ridicule. Dr. B. 
was addicted to gambling. He was passionately 
fond of the cock-pit, and not unfrequently 
selected the Sabbath as the day most conve- 
nient for the indulgence of this vice. He would 
travel many miles on a Sabbath morning to 
meet his boon companions, and engage in this 
odious form of gambling. How shocking, to 
think of desecrating God's holy day by a sport 
so cruel, and a practice so vile and degrading ! 
But infidelity stupefies the conscience, and ob- 
literates the sentiment even of natural pity and 
humanity. 

It so happened that in the town where Dr. 
20 



230 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



B. resided an auction of household furniture took 
place, which the doctor attended. He had no 
particular motive for going to this auction, ex- 
cept to see how his neighbor's chattels went off, 
— a matter of mere curiosity with him. as he 
wanted no additional household wares, — but he 
felt inclined to go and witness the sale. To be 
there without bidding on any article seemed to 
him not exactly the thing ; so, when an old 
family Bible was put up. lie thought he would 
bid on that, — not out of any respect that he had 
for the book, but more probably out of sport, 
and to create a smirk amono; his neighbors, who 
knew him to be an avowed infidel. But another 
motive influenced him, as he informed me. The 
Bible contained a great many pictures, which he 
thought would amuse his younger children ; and 
he determined on that account to have it. It 
was knocked down to him, and, taking it home, 
he threw it down on to the floor, saying, " There, 
children ! you will find some pretty pictures in 
that book." The children seized it, and very 
soon divided the pictures among them, scatter- 
ing the leaves about in every direction. Every 
now and then a leaf would be picked up and 
thrown into the fire. One Sabbath morning, 
when J)y B. was preparing to visit a neighbor- 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTUKES. 231 

ing town to engage in his favorite mode of 
gambling, he was in the act of shaving, and. 
not finding a piece of paper in his pocket to 
wipe his razor upon, he glanced around the 
room, and discovered a leaf of the old Bible. 
Before he used it for the purpose he had in 
view, a pang of conscience suddenly was felt. 
" This," said he to himself, " is the last remnant 
of that old Bible ; I will see what there is on it 
before I use it." So he sat down and read. 
Among other things, it contained the words, 
" Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." Having 
read it through, he used it for shaving-paper, 
and prepared to start on his journey. u But 
somehow," said he, " those words, 'Ye cannot 
serve God and Mammon,' kept ringing in my 
ear; and I found myself actually repeating 
them, without much reflection as to their mean- 
ing or application. But, the further I went, 
and the nearer I drew to the end of my ride, 
the more those Words sank into my soul. I 
tried to shake off the impression ; called my- 
self a fool for thinking a moment on the subject; 
and, when I began the sport, entered with more 
than ordinary enthusiasm into the play. My 
bets were large and reckless, and I lost much 
money on the occasion. At length, I turned my 



232 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



face homeward. But now I was a miserable 
man. My life of sin stared me in the face ; my 
conscience, once roused, spoke in thunder-tones 
of my guilt. Still rang in my ear and in my 
soul those dreadful words, 'Ye cannot serve 
God and Mammon.' I had been serving Mam- 
mon all my days, and God I had wholly neg- 
lected. Conviction of sin fastened itself strongly 
in my mind ; and I could scarce maintain my 
position in the saddle, so wretched and forlorn 
was my condition. When I got home, my first 
business seemed to be to find a place of retire- 
ment, and to cry to insulted Heaven for mercy 
and forgiveness. This I did, and kept on pray- 
ing, until, by the grace of God, mercy came, and 
hope to the chief of sinners dawned upon my 
soul ; and now, sir, that precious Book, which I 
had so long despised, which I had treated with 
such contempt, suffering it to be torn to pieces 
by my children, taking the last leaf to wipe 
my razor upon, — that precfcus Book, by one 
short sentence, and that the last that my eyes 
rested upon, convicted me of sin, brought me to 
see my lost state, and led me to the cross of 
Jesus as the only hope set before me. Can I, 
sir, fail to love the Bible, or can I be in doubt 
that its words are spirit and life, and that, 



THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES. 233 



without note or comment, it can reach the con- 
science and convert the soul 1 " Dr. B. became 
a member of the Methodist church, and at the 
time I visited him was exerting a widespread 
and happy influence on the community among 
whom he resided. His family was now a truly 
Christian household. The now venerated Bible 
had a prominent place in it ; and the morning 
and evening sacrifice ascended, as I doubt not, 
acceptable to God. The Sabbath, instead of 
being desecrated as heretofore, was now a day 
consecrated to divine worship. How great the 
change ! What a providence was that which 
led the infidel to the auction; which put the 
Scriptures into his hand, and which preserved 
that last mutilated leaf, which, as he observed, 
was so torn and defaced that he could not make 
out much more than the words, "Ye cannot 
serve God and Mammon; " what a providence, 
I say, in all this ! And who can doubt that the 
finger of God was there ; or that the Bible, 
which accomplished so great and glorious a 
change in him and in his family, is a work 
other than that which it claims to be, — the 
inspired oracles of God? A book which can 
convert the gambler and the profane swearer 
into the moral and upright citizen, which can 



234 



THE SCEPTIC REFUTED. 



throw over a household the atmosphere of the 
affections, and infuse the spirit of love among 
all its members, — a revolution which was ef- 
fected in Dr. B. and his family, — such a book 
surely claims a respectful perusal even from 
those who may be so unfortunate as to have dis- 
credited its divine original. 



H 148 82 i 



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